Author: Reform Radio

Positive Frequencies returned in full force, inviting a group of participants to turn inwards and create outwards. Funded by Manchester Adult Education Service, this incredible project welcomes individuals to set their focus onto their well-being and self-care practice. From sessions on imposter syndrome, to post-COVID life, our attendees are encouraged to use the likes of creative writing, songwriting and more to check in and express their emotions healthily. To share the wisdom and insight they had built throughout the course, our participants created a radio show for the Reform Radio airwaves. Listen to it below.

We caught up with Divine to see how the project went and what they plan to take from it moving forward into their everyday lives.

Introduce yourself (name, pronouns, and what you’re up to at the moment/hobbies etc).

Divine: My name is Divine Neza. I use she/her pronouns. At the moment I’m doing art therapy, textiles – creating my own bag. In my free time I like reading and watching funny videos.

How do you think your friends would describe you in three words?

Divine: I think my friends would describe me as funny, genuine and intellectual.

What’s your favourite thing to do to make you feel good/as a form of self-care?

Divine: My favourite thing to do as a form of self-care is binge watching Friends. It was a special interest of mine growing up and having episodes play in the background makes me feel safe. 

Did you have much experience of using writing in your well-being practice already? If so, what’s your favourite element of this or what have you enjoyed about trying it for the first time?

Divine: I have lots of experience in writing to express myself but very little practice within my well-being. I really enjoyed switching my perspective on my approach to writing, as a tool for promoting a healthy well-being as opposed to just a way to vent negative feelings.

What prompted you to get involved in our Positive Frequencies course?

Divine: The recommendation by referral enlightened me on the potential benefits of doing a course like this. Especially given my mental health and life’s circumstances at the moment, Positive Frequencies seemed like a great opportunity to utilise my skills in a manner that would really help me. 

Let’s throw it back to your first day on the course versus now, tell me a bit about your first impressions/feelings/emotions in comparison to how you feel now. What has changed?

Divine: Initially I was super nervous. I was incredibly anxious beforehand for numerous reasons, mainly not even to do with the course. Upon first impressions, I was worried I would feel excluded and confused as the first few sessions were over Zoom and the lack of real-life interaction made me very hesitant to connect with people. Once the first session took place and the course went on, many (if not all) of my anxieties around the course subsided. Dan, Tito, Lola, Adele, Autumn and any other staff I met/interacted with over the time were so kind, informative and inclusive. Reform Radio felt like a safe space. After completing the course, I feel confident in myself and my ideas. Positive Frequencies was the first time I’ve been honest about my autism with a group of new people and I’ve come away feeling very proud for staying true to myself. I’m not as nervous to enter new spaces without masking, because my experience on this course has encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone.

What will you take from the Positive Frequencies course moving forward & what are your plans from here onwards?

Divine: Moving forward I will definitely be taking the lessons on imposter syndrome, comfort zone anxiety and goals vs values with me. I’ll be consolidating that advice to better my well-being and my writing skills. My plans from here are to learn more creative skills and to develop the talents I already have by working on my confidence in other areas.

What’s one piece of advice/knowledge you’ve received regarding well-being through the course which you’d pass onto somebody else?

Divine: To attain true fulfillment one must align their life with their values. A life based on your values and principles will bring you far more joy than one based on achieving arbitrary goals. 

If you’d like to find out about our future courses at Reform, get in touch with our lovely Projects Team on projects@reformradio.co.uk.

What a couple weeks we’ve had! Over the past two weeks, Reform Radio has been home to our ever-growing DJ sessions programme, funded by MAES, with over twenty participants. Throughout the course, our participants have had hands-on experience behind the decks, learning how to beatmatch and blend, alongside sessions focused on self-promotion and sourcing gigs. We had DJ collective Do As You Please helping to facilitate the course, alongside some visits from GigPig and Genre Music throughout the week. To close the project, all of our incredible participants played a live set at Manchester venue The New Cross to an in-person and live-streamed audience.

We chatted to participants Jess and Jonathan to find out more about their journeys on the course and their wider plans on the DJ scene from here.

What are your names, pronouns, and current interests?

Jonathan: My name is Jonathan, I go by any pronouns, and outside the course I’m working on my career as a visual producer.

Jess: I’m Jess, my pronouns are she/her. I currently help run a comedy club in Northern Quarter. Apart from that, I love meditating and painting.

How would your friends describe you in 3 words?

Jonathan: Smiley, committed and passionate

Jess: Ambitious, laid-back and motivated

If you could only listen to one album for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

Jonathan: ‘Love In Your Meditation’ by Dezarie

Jess: It would have to be ‘Back Out of Hell’ by Meatloaf – it was the first album I knew all the words to when I was a kid and I probably still know all the words now! Every song is such huge tune so you can solidly rely on it.

Did you have much experience in DJing before and what’s your favourite thing about it?

Jonathan: I had no experience at all. But my favourite thing about being on the course has been getting behind the decks and just doing it – you learn more and more by the minute.

Jess: I have a controller at home but it has literally never seen the light of day so I didn’t really have much experience at all. However, my favourite thing about DJing has been finally getting to grips with the decks and learning different techniques, like blending songs and figuring out which tracks work alongside one another.

What prompted you to get involved with the DJ Sessions?

Jonathan: Personally, I feel like I have a vast knowledge on music of different genres and more generally I have a massive passion for music. I play the keyboard, I love singing and dancing, so I felt like I had the potential to be a sick DJ! I also felt that by learning to DJ I would have the opportunity to promote underrepresented artists from my hometown and community.

Jess: I have wanted to DJ for a while and I’d tried to learn by watching videos online but I think I’m better learning by doing. When I saw Reform were holding an in-person DJ Course, it was the perfect opportunity to get practising in the space. I had also done a Podcasting Course here before so I knew it was a great place with great people.

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? 

Jonathan: I definitely feel more confident overall and I’ve made great progress with learning about BPM and queuing tracks. Now, I’m focusing on blending and what effects I can use in my practice.

Jess: I know how much I love DJing now – it’s so much fun! I’m still not 100% confident but I have definitely got to grips with what I’m doing in terms of blending tracks, and I feel like I have an ear for when it’s right for tracks to come in now.

Do you have any role models on the DJ or general music scene that inspire your practice?

Jonathan: An obvious one has to be KAYTRANADA, but also Kabza De Small, who is an amazing amapiano DJ.

Jess: A general big inspiration in my life is Annie Mac – I would listen to her radios shows all the time. She’s the person that got me into dance music. But, all round, I just love seeing female representation on the DJ scene, it’s inspiring.

What’s your go-to genre to DJ?

Jonathan: Amapiano. I’ve been listening to it since 2019 and the genre has expanded so much over that time so there’s so much range within it now.

Jess: Definitely dance music.

Who would your dream B2B be? 

Jonathan: KAYTRANADA, of course.

Jess: I have to go big and say Chemical Brothers.

What will you take from the DJ course moving forward & what are your plans from here onwards? 

Jonathan: So next I want to start organising playlists of different genres, and I want to apply for some opportunities with the guests we had in to start playing live.

Jess: I just want to have fun with it really – I’m hoping to keep practising at home and see where it goes. I’m not really a planner so we’ll see what happens.

If you’d like to find out about our future courses at Reform, get in touch with our lovely Projects Team on projects@reformradio.co.uk.

After two weeks of brainstorming, team work, and bringing their creative audio visions to life, our Podcasting Course (kindly funded by MAES) has drawn to a close. From the chatting about the French Revolution, to getting their children behind the mic, this project’s participants have covered a whole lot of ground through their audio journeys to put together their final collective experiential podcast, Push The Button.

Listen to the full show below.

We chatted to one of the course’s participants, Martha, about their time on the course and where they’re heading next.

Can you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your hobbies and interests?

I’m Martha. My pronouns are she/her and my main hobbies are running, and writing poetry and blog posts.

How would your friends describe you in 3 words?

Goofy, creative and thoughtful.

If you could only listen to one podcast for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

This is a tough question because there’s so many. I think it would probably be ‘What’s Upset You Now’. It’s two comedians just chatting about the little things that annoy them in life – it’s really silly and they make it hilarious to listen to.

What prompted you to get involved with the Podcasting Course?

So I’d just moved to Manchester and I was looking to reset. The course sounded like the perfect option to give me a new routine and I was really wanting to get into more media-related stuff so I thought this sounded like a great starting point. I was also really hoping to meet some new like-minded people.

Did you have much experience in audio/podcasting before? If so, what’s your favourite thing about it?

I had done a little bit a few years ago but it was very basic stuff and all self-taught so it’s been nice to learn everything properly and fine tune my skills. My favourite things about podcasting are definitely the presenting and talking elements.

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 didn’t expect to enjoy the editing aspects as much as I have actually. Also over the time of the course, I’ve got a lot more into the routine of the days and that’s been really beneficial to me more generally with the structure of my life to be honest, from waking up and resting. I was also quite apprehensive about the course more generally, I didn’t know we would learn about equipment and editing softwares, for example, which has proven to be SO helpful.

What will you take from the Podcasting Course moving forward & what are your plans from here onwards? 

Ideally, I would really like to continue the podcasting journey I’ve started here beyond Reform, and I’d like to find more media related roles to get stuck into.

What’s your go-to podcast to listen to after a long day?

I think it would have to be ‘The Girls Bathroom’ – it’s a great gossipy podcast and I love hearing about other peoples’ problems so I know I’m not alone.

If you could have anyone on your own podcast as a guest, who would it be and why?

I think it would have to be my mum. We already have so many in-depth chats but I would love to be able to record them and refer back to them in times of need.

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.