We attended the Manchester Culture Awards on the 24th November for a night of fabulous food, awards and fun with other local creative organisations. The event was held at the Vermilion restaurant and featured the highest number of nominations since the awards first began in 2018, with 466 nominations across 13 categories.
The evening was hosted by Nazia Mogra alongside three young hosts Hans Wiener, Ahtasham Akhtar and Kao Hove. We were nominated in 2 categories: ‘Promotion of Health and Well-being’ & ‘Promotion of Culture and Education’ – the first was awarded to The Edge and the latter to MADE.
Congratulations to all of the winners and nominees! You can check out the full list of winners below.
Full list of winners.
Best Business Partnership: Barry Bennett Ltd and Venture Arts
Best Event: HOME – HOMEground
Best Exhibition: Science and Industry Museum – Cancer Revolution: Science, Innovation and Hope
Best Performance: Manchester International Festival – When The Birds Land
Independent Creative of the Year: Sharon Raymond
Made in Manchester: Manchester Young Carers Music Project
Promotion of Culture & Education: MADE
Promotion of Environmental Sustainability: Roots and Branches
Promotion of Equality & Social Justice: Uncertain Futures
Promotion of Health & Wellbeing: The Edge
Promotion of Talent & Leadership: Brighter Sound Leadership Programme
Young Creative of the Year: Yandass Ndlovu
The Manchester People’s Culture Award: Ed Wellard
Special Recognition Awards
Dave Moutrey OBE
Lemn Sissay OBE
Kate Day
The work being done by those in our community continues to amaze and inspire us. What a fulfilling event, to come together in one place and celebrate each other’s achievements, hard work and missions to better our city and our culture.
We thank everyone who helped put together such a special evening.
November 2022 welcomed the first ever instalment of DJ Sessions for experienced DJs. Last Friday the course finished with a bang, bringing together and shining a light on all the artists with a high-energy showcase!
This two-week advanced course invited seasoned Disc Jockeys to take their craft to next level. Learning advanced digital & vinyl DJ techniques, getting support on their promo assets, and strengthening their network. All working towards grabbing more gig opportunities!
We spoke to Omar, a participant from this session who started their DJ journey with our beginners DJ Sessions course!
Please introduce yourself…
My name is Omar Bala. I’ve been going through this DJ course, which is massive. I studied sound engineering and over the past few years, I’ve been mostly spending my time doing hospitality work. I met lots of musician friends through that, and they introduced me to a lot of new genres I’ve never heard before, which excited me about DJing.
What are your hobbies and interests?
I’ve always been interested in arts. I studied interior design for three and a half years, a year of industrial design, then three and a half years of graphic design. My biggest passion was photography since 2008. I became obsessed with it. I participated in a lot of workshops, exhibitions, and facilitated a course on graphic design and photography while I was living in Malaysia before moving to Manchester.
I paused [creatively] due to a lot of reasons. I kind of disconnected from myself for a very long period and couldn’t really get creative in any way until very recently.
Describe your personality in 3 words!
Fluid, dynamic and ever changing.
If money wasn’t a thing, what would you like to be doing full time?
I’d be making art. Also helping people to be more in touch with themselves and fitting with what they want to be.
What prompted you to get involved with DJ Sessions?
A friend of mine knew about this course and mentioned it. He took a Radio Course before and told me about what kind of an organisation Reform is and what kind of courses they do. It seemed really interesting and suitable for me.
DJing is something that I never imagined actually getting into but I’m so glad that I did.
How did you first get involved with DJing?
Reform Radio! I DJ’ed for the first time [at the beginners DJ Sessions course]. It was the first time I ever touched a deck. I was nervous throughout, to be honest. But, as I learned more, my confidence built up slowly. The facilitators helped me massively in this department. They gave me constant guidance and also some encouragement and validation, which really helped.
What’s your favourite thing about DJing?
Lifting people’s emotions up with the music that you play. It just connects people. It’s similar to why I love cooking for people. It brings them together, connects them, puts them on the same level, and good things happen.
Let’s throw it back to your first day at Reform versus now, tell me a bit about your first impressions/feelings/emotions in comparison to how you feel now. What has changed?
I still experienced some anxiety today at the final showcase. It’s something constant for me. I struggle with making mistakes even though I know everybody makes mistakes. First day I was astronomically nervous. Today I was much less, like 5% of that. But yeah, I gained a lot of confidence. I also was socially a bit more open today in comparison to my first day where I was completely shut.
What was the most memorable moment from the course?
I would say the showcase. The beginners course had a bigger group with music that varied to a ridiculous degree. This time the group was a bit smaller, which helped with the flow of learning.
I also learned a lot more than the beginners course, even though I didn’t know anything when I attended that one!
But the most memorable moment from the advanced course, I’d say were the tips and guidance from Gregor and Niall, and the two sessions where musicians came to show us their skills, like the fundamentals of vinyl scratching and the basics of music production.
If you would like to get involved or find out more about any of our projects, please drop us an email at projects@reformradio.co.uk.
If you are interested in music production, radio production, social media and creative writing, we have the perfect workshop for you this January.
Music Course is a 2-week programme with a focus on music production and creating a radio show that showcases your original creations. Funded by Manchester Adult Education Service, the project runs from Monday 30th January – Friday 10th of February, with a taster day on 26th January.
If you would like to get involved in this project, please drop us an email at projects@reformradio.co.uk
We are so excited to launch a series of new programmes in partnership with Greater Manchester Combined Authority – ‘In Focus’ in Radio, Content & Social Media, Mind & Planet.
Independently focusing on audio, content creation, Carbon Literacy and well-being, all delivered by industry experts. The course is fully funded and has been made possible with the Skills for Growth & European Social Fund. Get in touch at projects@reformradio.co.uk to find out more.
The courses were designed through consultation across the creative sector with freelancers, artists, organisations and employees, to meet current demands and skill gaps.
Individuals will learn a variety of skills ranging from music production to podcasting, social media and marketing strategies to filming and concept production. There will also be bespoke Carbon Literacy training, stress management and tailored well-being workshops.
In Focus: Radio
A 7-week course to learn all the skills required for music radio production. Led by Reform’s award-winning Podcasting Team with experience in national BBC strands, independent production companies, online radio and music related podcasts. During this course you will learn about audio production, presenting, music sequencing, research and interview skills, recording, editing & sound design, industry advice and knowledge on BBC systems.
In Focus: Content and Social Media
A 7-week course delivered by Reform’s experienced Content & Marketing Team, featuring exciting guests from the creative industry. In this programme you will learn the ins and outs of digital content creation with hands-on experience in video & photography. You will develop a social media strategy and deliver a live event, all whilst gaining knowledge about pre & post production.
Covering the following topics, as well as looking at tailored content for you or your team: Communicating without conflict, Overcoming Impostor Syndrome, Active Listening and Coaching Skills, Confidence Building, Improving Motivation, Stress Management & Avoiding Burnout, Facing your Fear of Failure, and many more.
Part 2 – Planet
Carbon Literacy Training developed and delivered by award-winning Head of Production and sustainability expert, Dan Jackson, this programme will provide a deep-understanding of the science of climate change and how our everyday activities contribute to it.
Through group learning, discussion and practical workshops, individuals will learn how to develop creative strategies to maximise their influence and minimise their negative impacts on the climate. With bespoke content specifically tailored to production companies, digital content producers, gamers, designers and the media industry.
The programmes are free to attend and eligibility for these courses are those 16+, who live or work within Greater Manchester, and are employed or self employed. If you would like to get involved in any of these courses, please email projects@reformradio.co.uk.
Taking place on a Thursday once a month, this session is based on opportunities for the future. The next online session will take place on Wednesday 7th December – from 15:30 – 17:30.
The session includes 1-1s, both CV and cover letter support, and invites several speakers who discuss various opportunities available.
Ever wanted to create your very own podcasts? Have ideas, but not sure how to bring them to life? Or are you simply curious?
Come and design your very own podcast, whilst learning production and audio editing skills in our award winning studios!
The two week long course will run from Monday 5th to Friday 16th December, kicking off at 10AM and wrapping at 4PM everyday. If you’re uncertain whether this is the right course for you, drop into our taster sessions on Wednesday 30th November.
Meet Farwa who is Reform Radio’s Operations Coordinator and Women’s Safety Lead, as appointed by ‘Women’s Night-time Safety Charter’ programme. We caught up with her to take a look at her journey from day one at Reform to her elevation into her current position.
Please introduce yourself and tell us one fun fact about yourself?
Hi, my name is Farwa, I’m Operations Coordinator at Reform Radio & I love making fresh flower jewellery and balancing that out by training Muay Thai.
Describe yourself in 3 words?
Upbeat, grounded and straightforward.
How did you get involved with Reform?
Funnily enough, during an old job my manager told me all about Reform. I saw that they had a few courses that could really help me develop my skills and confidence over lockdown so I just dived in.
What were you up to before joining Reform?
Before I joined Reform, I was studying Literature at a university and was a Culture Editor of the Arts & Humanities magazine ‘aAh!’ – A big focus for me during this time was diversifying the content by writing reviews & interviewing zine-makers from across the world about their passions and inspirations.
How did you get into literature and what are your inspirations for the future?
I actually got into literature because I thought it would be a good stepping stone into traditional journalism. Since then, I’ve been exposed to so many different ways of sharing stories, through audio as well as writing, so I’m excited to see what’s next for me creatively.
You’ve been appointed Reform’s ‘Women’s Safety Champion’ – can you tell us a bit more about this?
I put myself forward for this position because I wanted to make sure we’re prioritising the safety of all women, creating safe spaces and encouraging organisations and people to become active bystanders, and stepping in in the case of any unwanted advances or harassment.
Why is the topic of women’s safety important to you?
The topic of women’s safety is really important to me because unfortunately women have become used to identifying potential threats or attempts of intimidation, and now sort of expect it when out, and I’d like to help be a force for change when it comes to women feeling safe at work and otherwise. While we hope that we wouldn’t have to monitor our safety, it seems there are some unwritten rules that we all live by; like faking a call in a taxi or crossing the road at night when around big groups.
Manchester City Council held an open information and training session detailing what the ‘Women’s Night-time Safety Charter’ programme is, what’s on offer and what businesses can do. We chatted to Candi Wallace, who is part of the Safety Team at Manchester City Council.
Please introduce yourself?
My name is Candi Wallace. I work for the Safety Team at Manchester City Council and I’m the Violence Against Women and Girls Lead for the City Council. I’ve been leading on various initiatives that we’ve launched over the last few months for women’s and girls’ safety across the city.
Can you tell us a bit more about the training sessions?
The training is a free offer for all organisations that pledge up to the Women’s Night-time Safety Charter. The Night-time Safety Charter was launched officially about four weeks ago. It’s based on the London model, which we have adapted to suit Manchester.
The training is just part of it, it’s really around raising awareness of what sexual assault and harassment is, across all of our sectors. It’s an offer to those who pledge to try and upskill staff, give them a bit more time to understand how to respond better to situations or scenarios they may enter and even consider their own policies.
When you say ‘women’, is this inclusive of non-binary & trans people?
We are including all women, LGBT community. Absolutely. We have specialist services to the LGBT community. We’re very fortunate in Manchester that we have got a really wide range of services that represent all our communities. If we have men who are victims, we have services that can pick that up and can refer, signpost or support them too.
What are the future goals for this programme?
We are really just trying to make sure we skill up as many people as possible from across all of our organisations so that they can help their own staff and customers. We are trying to create awareness for everyone, which we hope will create more safe spaces across the city. Giving people the ability to help identify what sexual assault and harassment is. We all have a lot to learn from each other. Over the next few months we hope to only upscale our efforts and to reach everyone.
Mancunian artists Mimi & Kay Rico team up for a live performance of their recent R&B single ‘Replaceable’ on the latest instalment of Jorgy & Cheech show.
Mimi exudes a calming and assured presence throughout her performance in the music video for Replaceable. This is then contrasted with lyrics like “If you disrespecting me, then I’ll be disrespecting you” to remind audiences she’s not to be played with.
Kay Rico, ‘Rap Game UK’ alumni, features on the track, bringing his own original flow and personality to the song and video.
Listen back to the full show down below to find out more about Mimi & Kay’s new track and all of the behind the scenes action on the shoot.
We thought it was about time we updated you on our flagship, all female and non-binary MC project HERchester, as there have been some serious developments over the last few months.
Firstly, massive congratulations to Prinny Moni, who’s just had her track signed to Red Bull. Prinny was straight on responding to a call from OneDa, who then put her name forward and the rest is history. This exemplifies what HERchester is all about, females pushing other female rappers forward in the industry.
Next up, after seeing last year’s HERchester cypher, Frequency was chosen to take part in an all star, Manchester cypher to celebrate the launch of Snoop Dog’s new wine brand Cali Red. Watch below.
In other news, work is well underway on a new podcast project that will pair a member of the HERchester fraternity with a scientific researcher, with the aim of making the academic work more accessible through the medium of rap. The first few collaborations have been recorded, including a trip to Cambridge with Soundcamp graduate Karis Jade.
This work has been funded by the HDBI and is due for release in 2023. The Human Developmental Biology Initiative (HDBI)is a Wellcome-funded group of researchers at Institutes across the UK who are all trying to better understand how humans develop before birth.
We’re also thrilled to announce the next iteration, HERchester Up North, has been kindly funded by Arts Council Englandand is launching very soon. More news on this this to follow but the project has been built of a successful, North West wide pilot last year. Check out what went down behind the scenes in our short documentary below. It brought together women, non-binary people, transgender women and those that identify as women from 4 different cities: Manchester, Morecambe, Blackpool and Sheffield teaming up with RiteTrax, House of Wingz and More Music who accommodated and guided participants in their respective cities.
If you want to get involved in our next instalment of HERchester Up North, drop us an email on projects@reformradio.co.uk.
Every month we spotlight our lovely residents’ events. Here are a few ways to spend your weekends in some of Manchester’s most adored night-time spots this November.
DOCTORS AT WORK WITH RUBY SWALLOW [FREIGHT ISLAND]
Reform resident Levi Love will be playing along side Douglas McConachie, Yadava Campbell and curator of the night Ruby Swallow.
Catch the crew at Freight Island on Saturday 12th November.
Great Danes are back with another instalment! Showcasing the people behind the collective, with the sounds of residents CONE, Lucian and MBB, as well as DJ Shuttlecock making his long awaited return.
Hit up XLR on Saturday 19th November for an energetic fusion of Leftfied Bass, UK Techno and all things 140.
BASEMENT BOOGIELAND X ALEX VIRGO
Coming in extremely hot off the success of last years event, Good Custard bring in demand London DJ, Producer & Remixer, Alex Virgo to YES Basement!
On support is groove merchant, Hodgey who has had recent success with hits on RePlay Records and Late Ninety. Josh has since relocated to Manchester to showcase his funky inspired grooves and we can’t wait to see him in the booth.
Head down to Brew Tang in Manchester November 26th to enjoy some of the cities best vocalists including acts like Ten23, Via, Prima, Mo Othman, Soul31 & Dj Squal will be dropping 90’s RNB classics.
Tickets are only £9.05 and are available on the link below.
New for 2022, we are delighted that our work on environmental sustainability has copped us a nomination for The Sustainability Award. This has been several years work, namely from Lewys Stocks and our advisory board member Dan Jackson, but importantly engaging everyone across the organisation.
Congratulations to everyone and massive thanks to all our staff and community for engaging so positively in this work. Last week we had the pleasure of hosting a panel discussion focusing on creative sustainability, hosted by Dan. You can watch it back below.
To follow on from this success and to continue our work in this area, we’ll soon be launching free Carbon Literacy training, delivered by Dan, designed specifically for content makers and creatives. To sign up or find out more information email projects@reformradio.co.uk.
With The People’s Party being the first across the UK commission for BBC Radio 6 Music, we’re delighted that show’s host Afrodeutsche has been nominated for the Best New Voice award at this year’s APAs. Basically the Oscars for the production side of our industry, it’s great to see a concept that we’ve developed and produced has been recognised in this way. Massive congrats to the team and especially Henrietta, a born broadcaster who has brought her wealth of knowledge and passion to Friday nights on 6 Music.
We’re extremely honoured to be announced as an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation today – since the early days of broadcasting from the basement in Manchester, we are so proud of what Reform Radio has achieved.
We understand however that today will be extremely tough for arts organisations doing important work across the country and we stand with you in solidarity. We hope our resources can also be of benefit to others, as we continue to abide by our values; community, creativity and collaboration.
We are extremely thankful to the Arts Council and all our funders, young people, supporters, DJs, artists, colleagues, friends and listeners who have contributed so richly to this achievement. You make this community the incredible cultural force and agent for change that it is.
Congratulations to all who have received good news today, we are proud to stand with you ❤️
