Charting Visions brings the future of music to Manchester and beyond…
For the past two weeks, we have been working collaboratively with a group of young people through in-person and online workshops delivered as part of our Music Course. The end result, seven super fresh tracks from a creatively diverse group of individuals.
In response to Mental Health Awareness Week, the young people created a radio show presenting their new music alongside segments covering self-care, writer’s block and musician support resources.This project was funded by Manchester Adult Education Service.
Tandem Theatre is a creative arts charity for communities across Greater Manchester and beyond. Enriching, developing and transforming lives through drama and other participatory arts.
The organisation has extensive experience in delivering high quality arts practice for homeless adults, vulnerable women, young women and young people with behavioural and emotional challenges. Tandem Theatre aim to encourage and edify participants so they acquire the tools needed to reach their potential. Their projects take many forms depending on the needs of the various groups we work with. Working in partnership is the heart of what we do, and work alongside host organisations such as Youth Services, Homeless Support Centres, Women Centres and Alternative Education Providers to name a few.
Zhoosh*, is a project for groups of LGBTQIA young people based in Rochdale, Salford and Wigan. The groups have written and recorded their own songs with composer Michael Betteridge, written their own poetry with performance poet Jackie Hagan, and seen Kate O’Donnell, Artistic Director of Trans Creative, perform at the Birdgewater Hall, Manchester. The young people then performed their music live to launch Trans Vegas, the Trans Arts Festival by Transcreative at Manchester Art Gallery, at Salford Pink Picnic and at the biggest national LGBT+ youth festival, Rainbow Playground, by the Proud Trust.
The groups also created short films, which will be available online and screened at HOME, Manchester in the new year. All the young people who completed the project achieved the Silver Arts Award, Level Two qualification accredited by Trinity College London.
A group of unique individuals from our most recent Music Course have come together to combine their culture, expression and passion. Oh and how can we forget about their love for dogs; more specifically our esteemed mascot Baxter Beans…
This radio-show will help you visualise the participants’ individualism, yet highlighting the colourful tastes they share in all things music. Despite being distant and collaborating online due to COVID-19 regulations, the team managed to work together and produce a professional audio project.
Coming straight out of our project for the new Kickstart Scheme, is a show featuring gripping conversations on Feminism, Mental Health, and Neurodiversity.
Agency Unlocked is a show delivering discussions on controversial yet important issues from multiple perspectives of our local youth in society. An attempt to collect diverse answers from multiple demographics and backgrounds to create a holistic image on systemic issues.
Massive thanks to Prince’s Trust and the Future Workforce Fund for funding this project.
Rhythm Lab Records has new music coming out of their most recent project Sonic Synthesis.
Rhythm Lab Records is an independent record label run out of Manchester (UK) with a history of fostering local and international collaborations in a sustainable and forward-thinking manner.
Sonic Sythesis is a project where artists that have never met before create a track independently of one another – and subsequently swap each other’s STEMS in order to create a unique re-work of each other’s original tracks.
The second release to come out of the series is Roots, a collaboration EP between China Lilly X Sindysman & Micco X Elias. The tracks glides from soulful experimental electronic sounds to remixed fast-paced garage influenced beats.
Sonic Synthesis: Roots will be released on Wednesday 28th April.
As the end of the pandemic looms, we explore our Nu Reality. A nostalgic look at the past, finding jobs in the present, and a whole new future.
Expect nostalgic music, interviews on workplace opportunities with SharpFutures, and hopeful talks of the future from Reform Radio’s Jade.
Hosted by a group of Manchester creatives who came together as part of the kickstart project funded by the Prince’s Trust and the Future Workforce Fund.
In March 2020 the UK was put into a national lockdown due to Covid 19.
As an organisation we pivoted quickly. We moved our workshops and mental health support online, provided digital training and access by lending equipment, while supporting our DJs and presenters to go live from their own homes.
Throughout the pandemic with the support from our funders, we were able to continue to employ all of our 15 staff to ensure the support we offer to our community could continue. We committed to;
Ensuring the wellbeing and safety of the Reform Family and the wider community
Providing industry opportunities and pushing money back into the freelance economy.
Continuing to deliver quality content to bring joy into peoples’ homes.
We want to say a huge thank you to all of our staff for their resilience over this year, to all of our funders for continuing to support us throughout this time and to all of the Reform Radio community. We can’t wait to see you all in real life soon.
Above all a big THANK YOU to the Key Workers and NHS Staff who have shouldered the weight of the pandemic. ️
Push Pad Pioneers gives schools students the opportunity to learn production skills as well as given the chance to record their own music tracks, interviews and other content for their own show.
Push Pad Pioneers (2018)
Supported by MyHub Manchester Music and One Education, the first Push Pad Pioneers collaborated with The East Manchester Academy & William Hulme’s Grammar School. It was a fantastic opportunity to get to work with these schools and educate a new generation of producers.
The second Push Pad Pioneers radio show was presented and produced by students at Loreto High School in Chorlton, Manchester. This creative electronic music project was designed and led by electronic musician/composer Caro C with One Education Music and Ableton Ltd.
ŠKODA‘s project in partnership with The Prince’s Trust lead to the creation of The Lazy Zombie Guide, a show that offers an inside look into youth culture to honour International Youth Day (2018).
This project was part of ŠKODA‘s Diver’s Seat Initiative, which aims to celebrate and showcase independently mined people who want positively impact society.
This show contains original content produced by Manchester creatives aged 16-25, from podcasts and debates to live music from James Lyons.
You can all watch the young people in action here, through a live recording of the show in the old Reform Radio Studio!
Intro to Podcasting is a 1 week course that gives young people the opportunity to learn media skills while creating a radio show.
Here are a list of shows created through the project.
Still Thinking
‘Still Thinking’, a podcast collective started by a group of young creatives, that you can listen back to by clicking the show image below.
By order of Reform Radio Ambassador, Annie Mac, the team joined together to master new skills within the art of podcasting. Big thank you to Manchester Adult Education for funding this project. Special thanks to Louise Mason, Tom Northey, and Dan, the Reform Radio wellbeing manager for joining the sessions.
From remote regions of Manchester, the team of ‘Still Thinking’ have collaboratively produced a radio show that has allowed us to explore topics of contextual and personal significance including Skincare, Creative Scenes, Diaspora & more.
Harry is a radio drama with the idea to give unemployed young people the chance to develop new skills by writing and performing the show themselves and to tell their stories too.
The series, captures the issues of the time that were impacting young people. Series 1-3 covers issues such as JCP sanctioning, oversubscribed food banks, bedroom tax, the impact of unemployment on family, a persons mental health and society as a whole.
Series 1 went out on the radio as a 6 part series and to launch the series we developed promenade style theatre show at Contact Theatre. The second series again went out on Reform Radio and was launched by delivering the series as a traditional theatre production. Series 3 was launched at Old Granada Studios, during a live recording and broadcast where the cast performed the show in front a live audience.
Supported through ESF‘s funding, BuddyLine is a series of intergenerational phone calls that were born out of a need to combat loneliness, and to improve well-being during these tough periods of lockdown and self-isolation.
The calls for BudddyLine were due to finish before Christmas. However with the ever-changing government imposed restrictions and the prospect of some of our pairs unwillingly facing Christmas alone, we were eager to keep the conversations alive over the holiday period.
Our young Reform volunteers and Sonder Radio Buddies continued chatting on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, as well as New Years. As ever, the conversations meandered through a variety of wonderful topics.
Here’s what the Buddies and Reform volunteers had to say about their experience:
“The calls were really interesting, I was able to speak to people who I normally wouldn’t get the chance to and I learnt quite a lot”
“I loved talking to my buddies at Christmas, it’s perfectly natural to call your family and friends to wish them well and it was lovely to include my buddies from Sonder Radio too.”
“It was nice to have someone to speak to on Christmas day, I was spending Christmas on my own because of the lockdown.”
Head to Reform Radio’s Mixcloud to listen to the episodes.
If you want to get involved in this wholesome project, gain skills and experience producing radio and build up your CV, be sure to see the flyer below to see how you can get involved.
September saw the conclusion of the Digital Production Management course we delivered with SharpFutures and the airing of a podcasts created by the cohort that took part in the project.
SharpFutures is a social enterprise that supports diverse talent into employment in the creative digital and tech sectors, by offering a range of interventions including volunteering, work experience and apprenticeships.
Through the support of Reform Radio, the collective have created Sharp Talking, a podcasts which ranges from the humorous and at times cringe-worthy right through to the investigative and thought-provoking
In response to a challenge set by BBC Radio 1 DJ, Annie Mac, within the week the cohort also interviewed Kate Cocker, the presenter coach.
With big thanks to Adam, Angelika, Stevie and Sam for their support, encouragement and insights shared into audio production!
Get Started With Podcasting is a week-long workshop designed to provide digital skills to young people in its respective area, notably of course from their homes which has provided a new dimension of learning for all involved.
In light of this our support Lead, Adam Seymour, remarked that “within five days a group of strangers have done so well to unite during lockdown to create a show packed full of really important and prevalent issues”.
The Prince’s Trust funded week-long workshops were designed to provide digital skills to young people in its respective area, notably of course from their homes which has provided a new dimension of learning for all involved. In light of this our support Lead, Adam Seymour, remarked that “within five days a group of strangers have done so well to unite during lockdown to create a show packed full of really important and prevalent issues”.
Those who signed up for the workshop learnt how to create, structure, edit and produce a podcast, and they were given some encouragement by none other than Reform Ambassador, Annie Mac. She had set them each a task to create their own individual pilot podcast in less than a week.
Lockdown Link is the latest show to come out of the Get Started w/ Podcasting project series.
Lockdown Link is a collection of short podcasts, as well as an interview conducted by the young people with lead Audio Producer at the Guardian, Max Sanderson. Adam further commented that “it was so impressive to see the level of quality produced by the whole group and we’re all looking forward to hearing future episodes soon we hope”.
Arts Council England’s Cultural Recovery Fund was part of the Government’s £1.57billion package to help protect UK’s culture and heritage sectors from the economic impacts of Covid-19.
Thanks to the Arts Council England Cultural Recovery Fund &Grassroots Fund, in November, Reform had the fortune of running some workshops to specifically support Reform’s family of DJs, Resident Hosts & Artists.
Balraj Samrai of Swing Ting ran a PR & Marketing workshop that focused on a DIY approachto press kits, contacting & pitching music releases to journalists & publications. We also hosted an accounts trainingsession run by Steve Price, MD of Inspire, for freelancers, those interested in freelancing, or who are applying for funding.
The ACE fund has not only contributed to Reform’s inner community but also their outer. Reform were able to start Arts council Wednesday workshops, which ranged from sessions that explore different forms of songwriting, to how to develop your own branding.
Scroll down to see some of the workshops that were delivered.
Grassroots Music Fund was a £2.25 million funding scheme by Arts Council England, which aimed to support England’s music and multi-art venues that were at risk of insolvency due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Reform Radio was one of the many venues that received this fund which was used to upgrade the live room’s kit.
With help from the Arts Council England Fund, Reform were able to create a Jäger x Reform stage at this year’s virtual presentation of We Out Here Festival. As reported in DJ Mag, Resident Advisor and The Vinyl Factory, Reform Radio teamed up with the crew at Giles Peterson’s We Out Here Festival and Worldwide FM, to throw a digital festival to raise funds for Black Lives Matter associated charities.
The weekend was successful in safely programming over 20 hours of live music, poetry, dancing and DJ sets from over 20 Manchester based artists. The festival on a whole was filled with a massive array of the arts; music, films, panels, workshops, kids activities and more.
DJ Paulette who blessed the Jäger x Reform stage with her high energy house set participated in a brilliantly insightfulpanel discussion about racism in music industry, action and change with Jenna G and Pops Roberts from Lovescene.
The broadcast alone was an all time highlight for us at Reform. However we are extremely pleased to inform everyone that the festival crowdfunder raised £7,508 for the charities People Dem, Tomorrow’s Warriors, Black Cultural Archives, Black Minds Matter, Abram Wilson Foundation and The Black Curriculum (special mention to Mr Scruff & MC Kwasi for their final fundraising drive, extending their set for donations).
Thanks to Jägermeister & Arts Council England for helping make this happen, as well as We Out Here for the opportunity. There are many more who we wanted to thank that could fit here, so see our full post on Facebook.
Please also head to the document that was created to support all the artists that played.
Thanks to MAES, we were able to host two free online Facilitation Training sessions in November 2020. The workshops were an opportunity for freelancers looking to deliver their own workshops or those that were looking to become Youth Workers/Leaders in the Future.
The workshop explored topics such as radio in employment, how to work with partners, project planning, facilitation, funding and evaluation.
AudioLab creates a space where young emerging creatives from different backgrounds can interact with science, and creatively learn about, explore, question, and express their voices within the field.
In 2019, The University of Manchester nominated AudioLab for the Making a Difference Awards 2019 for Outstanding public contribution.
The project presents a way of working that takes a step towards greater diversity and inclusion among both the audiences and producers of public involvement in health research. The new connections made through AudioLab resulted in 12 of the participants progressing to employment, training and voluntary roles within health, research, creative and communications environments.
Facilitated by the project leads, the emerging young talents connected with science in a series of culturally- and personally-relevant and creative sessions, culminating in their production of digital content and a one-hour live radio show.
Lets checkout 3 of the wonderful shows created through this project!
Brainwaves (2017)
The first Audio Lab was created in parter with the Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS.
Brainwaves focuses on the themes of science, creativity and mental health. The episode delves into these topics through numerous ways, such as the participants critical reviews on their experience at the Manchester Science festival, a documentary that explores the demonised and stigmatised condition of schizophrenia, and a nail-biting game on the periodic table.
Catalyst For Discovery (2018)
Funded by The Welcome Trust, with support from the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre, the second instalment of AudioLab was officially partnered with Manchester Science Festival.
Participants for the 2018 AudioLab went live from the Museum of Science and Industry, to create the show Catalyst For Discovery. Listeners will be guided through the world of science through music, an interview with the Manchester Science Festivals director Antonio Bernitez, and an investigation into the legend of Bigfoot…
The Inner Scientist (2020)
Partnered with The Wellcome Collection and live from London – the most recent instalment of AudioLab was delivered for a week in Manchester and a week from London’s Wellcome Collection where the group had a live audience of researchers.
The Inner Scientist explores how to make science more accessible through live performances, exclusive spoken word pieces, and a discussion with a panel of scientists!
At the start of 2020, in partnership with GMCVO, Reform Radio began running a programme within the Tameside area called Hidden Talent.
The programme aims to help provide opportunities for young adults aged 18 – 24 who are not currently employed, in education or on benefits by offering access to a variety of creative workshops and one-to-one support for mental health, CV writing and job applications.
Reform also offered the possible option of providing some financial support to help overcome barriers to employment including travel costs, training courses, and clothes for interviews.
What does a good death really mean? The Life and Death podcast, brought to you by Ashgate Hospice, is a 6 part series which does not shy away from this question, and faces it straight on through honest conversations between both givers and receivers of end of life care.
Ashgate Hospice Care’s senior physiotherapist Stephan Rumford, hosts each episode and helps the listener to grasp a deeper understanding of what the experience is like from both ends of the spectrum. Ashgate Hospice is a charity that provides free specialist palliative and end of life care across North Derbyshire to patients with a life-limiting illness, and offers support to their families.
Stephen brings together Ashgate’s patients and professionals to chat about their unique relationships, hospice life, and dying well. Each episode follows a different pair and another side of hospice life.
The response to the launch was absolutely amazing. The podcast was in the Top 20 in Personal Journals and Top 100 in Society & Culture on the UK Apple Podcast Charts following the release of the first episode.
Scroll down to find out what each episode explored!
Episode 1: Stephen and Roy
“You’re on this earth to live, and the dying side sorts itself out“
Physiotherapist Stephen, and his patient Roy, explore what it means to live and die well, and what Ashgate Hospice care means to the both.
Episode 2: Sarah and Lynette
“All my patients have an incurable illness but like Lynette they are very much about living.”
Dr Sarah Parnacott and her patient Lynette, who is living with an incurable tumour, chat about their relationship, providing care for patients with complex needs, and the importance of dignified death.
Episode 3: Liz and Sarah
“I think bereavement starts before somebody has died”
Sarah, whose partner Jackie died in 2017, and her bereavement counsellor Liz, come together in episode 3 to talk about loss, coping with death, and how they have worked through Sarah’s grief together.
Episode 4: Carl and Tom
“You’ve got the fuel with what you’ve been through to be able to do it”
In Episode 4, Tom, who has been a passionate fundraiser since his Dad died in 2018, sits down with fundraising manager Carl to discuss family, loss, and the incredible cycling challenge he completed during lockdown.
Episode 5: Stephen and Barbara-Anne
“There are some people that just get under my defences”
Ashgate’s senior physiotherapist Stephen, chats with the hospice’s Chief Executive Barbara-Anne. They discuss the person behind the title, their views of life and death, and how their perspectives have been shaped by working the hospice sector.
Episode 6: Arlene and Ellie
“I learnt to let go of that guilt for feeling ok“
The final episode of podcast series invites Arlene and Ellie to discuss their personal experiences of bereavement, grieving at Christmas time, and how singing has helped their mental health.
If you’re interested in having a podcast produced for your organisation then please email podcasting@reformradio.co.uk.
