Our platform was founded to work for unity and support between womxn and non-binary folk in the music industry. We bring people together and make the industry more welcoming to people of all genders through workshops, panel talks, and enjoying what we all love: music! 

 

As a fierce collection of bad-ass individuals trying to change things for the better, we focus on bringing together organisers, managers, agents, radio producers, musicians and other creatives for our shared purpose. A force to be reckoned with, our community is encouraging the next generation of individuals via training sessions, podcasts, networking, access to inspiring people, and general positive ‘you can do its’.

 

Although we are showcasing female-identifying and non-binary talent, we are inclusive to everyone and make a point of not being anyone’s competitor: we want to unite, rather than divide! To this end, our strength is in being connectors: linking like-minded creatives to each other under one roof, to foster collaboration and multiply impact. We want to share our knowledge and work together to reach as many self-starters as possible who would like to work in the industry or perform music, but who do not have the relevant resources or connections.

 

We really believe, with our combined knowledge and skills, we can make a real dent in the industry’s current state. Our workshops and panels are undoubtedly our most successful feature so far, with thousands of participants signing up and receiving training. 

 

This is what we do best: inspiring a new generation by giving them the tools and access to pioneers and experts in the industry who share their professional journey and advice at no cost. 

 

OUR PROJECTS

​

We organise monthly community events in London: workshops, panels, talks, networking and mentoring. We have, as of 2019, reached approximately 1000 event attendees, 2000 listeners on our audio channels, and 2500 followers on social media.

•  

We host stages at festivals across the UK, where we present up-and-coming female-identifying and non-binary musical talent, as well as organising workshop areas for discussion, learning and training. Be they DJs, record label owners, business directors or workshop hosts, we aim to provide these talented and passionate womxn the space otherwise taken up by men. For instance, we have held a stage takeover and workshop at Noisily Festival (full day DJ takeover and Womb Circle workshop); curated a full day stage takeover at Mad Hatter’s Affair; hosted a panel on Grassroots Organising at No Bounds Festival; curated and hosted industry workshops for Westival Wales; curated a panel on Womxn in Music for Cross the Tracks Festival and Grrrl Zine Fair at Village Green Festival; 

• ​

Wigflex City Festival case study: In May 2019, we were given a platform at the first edition of Wigflex City Festival taking place in Nottingham, seeking to showcase leading womxn in the electronic scene. We invited the Founder of Peckham’s newly-founded radio station Foundation FM (Frankie Wells), Erased Tapes and WeAreFloat founder (Sofia Ilyas), Outer Agency Founder and Head Agent (Carin Abdula), and POLY agency Head Agent (Keira Sinclair). Our speakers explored the unique theme of visibility: “What does it mean to be heard/seen versus being unheard and unseen?”; “Who are the people that often go unseen and unheard, and why is this the case?”. During this panel discussion, we featured a range of womxn with different experiences, which allowed us to further delve into intersectionality. How is it that a teenager growing up in a strict Pakistani-Muslim household, who was not allowed to enter into higher education, who wound up living in a womxn’s shelter, is now running her own agency for the likes of Jeff Mills and Nils Frahm? Why is it that an African-Portuguese migrant, who moved to the UK and runs an agency with her male counterpart, still gets requests to speak to “Mark”? Rooted in her home town of South London, one panellist thought that the only way to showcase female-identifying radio talent would be to create her own platform from scratch, risking everything. And another proactive panellist focused on the importance of  bringing a diverse array of artists to the forefront of her agency. These experiences sparked discussion, revealed insightful observations, and encouraged our audience to grow and expand their own horizons. The overall idea of our panels is therefore simple but powerful: we invite a number of speakers to explore a theme, and get the audience as engaged as possible in order to share ideas and inspire new ways of thinking and creating. 

•  

We promote events similar to ours and help spread the word about womxn in the music industry who are often behind the scenes and not shouted about and celebrated as much as they should be. For our club nights, we connect with female-led and female-identifying and non-binary collectives such as Femme Fraiche, Sisu, Sister Collective, Get In Her Ears, PSY Sisters (and more) to make a point of not being competitors and showing that we work together towards the same goal, helping each other out along the way. We have started an all-day, festival-style event called ‘Femme Summer Fete’ to promote this idea, which we will soon be taking further into a Winter edition and an annual festival.

•  

We hold regular panel discussions with industry experts. A prime example was our panel on International Women’s Day 2019 held in collaboration with Global Media company at Global rooftop. This consisted of three panels under the umbrella theme of ‘Balance for Better’, featuring panellists such as Global's Commercial Group Business Director, Head of Community at Mixcloud, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Global Festivals and Events, Head of Community at Shesaid.so and Senior Digital Marketing Manager at Universal Music Group. We also currently hold regular London panels at Colours, Hoxton and Allbright, Mayfair. Topics range from skills training (e.g. How to produce music on Ableton Live) to thematic areas (Music for Social Good, Breaking the Migrant Glass Ceiling etc.), and advice on different aspects of the music industry. We feature the experience of womxn who serve as role models and mentors for the attendees, as well as male guests who offer the male perspective on what we can do to achieve more equality within the music industry.

•  

We hold ‘takeovers’ at various functions and festivals. For instance, to celebrate International Women’s Day in 2018 we hosted a day of workshops at Number 90, Hackney. It was a huge success: we had about 100 womxn join us to learn how to DJ, how to run a radio show, how to start a record label, how to vision board, and to talk about body positivity. We have access to some of the industries’ most successful womxn, who know the importance of passing on advice and knowledge in order to train and support upcoming womxn.On our website and social media pages, we showcase exclusive DJ mixes, podcasts and radio shows, plus feature events, reviews and interviews on our blog. Our Spotify is becoming a home for new releases of songs and mixes for aspiring artists, and we give them exposure and the opportunity to perform and share the music that they create with wider audiences.

•  

We are launching a monthly podcast in order to get our message heard by even more people. Forthcoming episodes will include interviews with inspiring people, discussions about our initiatives and events, features with our collaborators and their creative projects, plus insights into current research and data about the imbalance in the music industry.

•  

Our workshops and trainings have included: how to DJ; how to create your own podcast; and how to press and mix vinyl. In 2019, we collaborated with Second Home (Spitalfields) for Record Store Day, where we ran a record fair with female-identifying sellers and held workshops on running a label (by TASHA/Neighbourhood), the process of record pressing (by Elliot Clemenson), and vinyl beatmatching (by DJ SLAUKA).

•  

We collaborate with other feminist groups. Our whole ethos is inclusivity and encouragement: we lift each other up, and help each other out - not only within the WXMB 2 nucleus, but in our community too. A highlight in this regard was our ‘Femme Summer Fete’ at Grow Hackney, at the end of summer 2019. This brought together eight female-identifying collectives from across London to promote unity and collaboration, and to showcase artists from each of the groups. We also work continuously with collectives with whom we share goals and ideas.

•  

We provide role models and mentors, including in areas such as mixing, engineering, production and management. Representation matters: the more we push all-female tech workshops, or run events where aspiring creatives can hear from successful womxn in the music industry, the more the younger generation will see that it is normal for any gender to work in this field. The music industry can be an intimidating place, and we want to change that and make it more inviting to everyone. Having womxn pass on their knowledge and skills is vital to this process and everyone is welcome to come and learn. 

•  

We run live and electronic music nights to put female-identifying artists front and centre stage and to provide them with a platform to perform and display their talents. For instance, we held a WXMB 2 club night at NT’s Bar, London Fields which featured DJ Faro and WXMB 2 DJs. 

•  

We are presently designing a pilot workshop for outreach into schools and Universities in order to inspire young creatives to consider future careers in the music industry.