I’ve been in the forum since the beginning and think that was around two years ago. I joined the group because when they told us about it, they said it was going to be about spreading music for everyone to have equal opportunities. I was aware that some people didn’t have the same opportunities that I did. I was shown and told about all of these different orchestras, groups and bands in Hackney, so I felt like if I could help spread the work about music and help get others involved I should do it. Currently I’m the secretary of the group, so I tell people when the events are and keep in touch with everyone and make sure they know where and when we’re meeting, and what we will be trying to do in the meeting. And I take notes, which I then send to the rest of the group and just keep everyone in touch and make sure everyone knows what is going on. We’ve hosted and helped run a couple of events around Hackney. We did one in Chats Palace with we ran and organised which was good. We did the flyers, we got bands to play – that was a good one. Later in life I want to be a professional musician and next year I’ll be going to Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance to study jazz performance. This group is really helpful with networking, meeting new people and getting connections. It gives you a confidence that you wouldn’t normally get in another field. I’m able to go up to and talk to people I meet in the industry through the forum and I think it makes me more professional.

I met another member of YMF in college and she told me about YMF, so I decided to join in October 2015. I joined YMF to gain a better insight into music, and to create networks in music within Hackney.

I play piano and guitar in my part time, but I’m really passionate about History, and want to pursue something to do with that in the future, possibly the History of Music. For a while I lost my connection with music when I moved to England from New Zealand, once joining YMF it has assisted me in rebuilding that connection over the past year or so. I hope to be able to create further links and have access to further opportunities in the near future, through the organisation of events with YMF.

I have been in the forum since it started which was back in 2014. I joined the group because I think in Hackney there are not enough musical opportunities for young people. I’ve been doing music all my life and I want to continue it – music is what I want to do. I’m the social media correspondent, so whenever we have an event or helping out at an event I use social media. I go on twitter and Facebook, and promote the event. Here we’re all young, we know what other young people are looking for, and think we’ll be able to make good opportunities. So far we have put on an event at Chats Palace with the Hackney Creative Jazz Ensemble and we ran the whole event. We did an event at the Round Chapel too and we performed as a group, we also helped out at the festival, and we’ll be organising other events in the future, but they haven’t  been fully decided yet.

Bio coming soon

Hi my name is Khara, I study music at Bsix college. I’ve been playing the piano for 10 years and I’m learning how to play guitar as a new instrument. I recently joined YMF. I like to meet new people and play/listen to music. By joining YMF I would like to achieve, getting involved with new activities such as planning an event or playing in a different environment. I would also like to get a whole new understanding of music outside of my lessons and the opportunities it brings.

I’ve been in the group for around 2 years and I joined because I wanted the opportunity to meet new people do something I enjoy. At one point, my role in the group was as data analyser, however over time, my role in the group has varied. So far we have been meeting and creating connections with many different organisations, we have issued surveys to better our understanding of what young people want to happen in Hackney concerning music. Also, we have hosted and helped out with a number of events. Being in the forum has helped me recognise that events management is something I love and may consider doing in the future.

Bio coming soon

I joined YMF in the beginning when I was in year 10 to represent my music department in secondary school. I felt that it would be a fun thing to do with my spare time and would give me links to the industry early on.

I am now chair of the YMF and I have been leading meetings and organising them. I organise the agendas and meetings with different organisations to find out how we can be of benefit to them and how they could help us.

So far we’ve taken part in a number of different events and have helped out with other organisations in running their events too. This includes a My Hackney event at the Round Chapel. We got to help out with the different youth choirs and other things which were taking place on the day. We helped run G2M live which was an online show and we got to take around all of the different performers. We also did an event for the Hackney Creative Jazz Ensemble at Chats Palace. We had to talk to the venue, talk to all of the musicians, write a programme and publicise the whole event from scratch.

YMF definitely links to what I want to do in later life, because I never really knew what I wanted to do before until recently. I want to start up my own business, study, and see what goes on and start up my own business in the music industry. I also hope to put on more fun events for young people and broaden my network of performers.

Bio coming soon