You can watch or listen to the Future Leaders information on YouTube, or read the transcript below.
Recording
Transcript
Electronic Notetaker/Captioner: Eluned Charnley
Key:
[ ]: Typist uncertain of word, or notetaker comments.
[Unclear]: Typist uncertain of word.
** This is not a verbatim record **
START OF SESSION
[Recording in progress]
JOHN KELLY: Ok. Welcome to everyone and thank you for joining us on this sunny Tuesday afternoon for our – it’s the very first time we’ve had a Future Leaders information session. Everyone is very welcome whether live with us now or watching later online. Everyone is really, really welcome. We’ve got our two BSL interpreters, Mel and Jacqui, who are interpreting all the way through the session, and also Eluned doing live captioning. You can access captions down in the bottom bar of your Zoom, about 5th or 6th icon along that says CC, click on that to see captions and show them. We’ve got some slides to go along with us, and Deborah is working the slide pack as well as speaking along with myself and Vini. Deborah is the slides pinned at the moment?
DEBORAH BORG BRINCAT: I hope that it is, yes.
JOHN KELLY: I can only see a small one. That’s ok if that’s the case. I can only see me and Mel. Although that’s lovely, I’d like to also see the slides!
[Sorting out slides]
JOHN KELLY: Now I can. That’s ok. Great. So I’m going to handover to you Deborah for the first few bits.
DEBORAH BORG BRINCAT: Right. Let me spotlight myself. Hi everyone, my name is Deborah, I’m a programme delivery manager at Drake Music and work closely with the Future Leaders team to make it happen and do this brilliant work with young disabled music leaders. I’m a white Mediterranean woman in 30s with dark hair, gold rimmed glasses, in my living room with a bike hung on the wall. Thank you for joining us for this session. We have 3 sections, first about the Future Leaders programme, including hearing from a Future Leader from the cohort that just finished, Vini, is here with us today and is going to tell us about his experience. Then the second session about how to apply for the programme, then a Q&A session with an opportunity to ask questions using the Q&A button which should be fourth or fifth button along in Zoom. We are sharing some slides and with a white background slides with light yellow boxes behind the black text, but we will be reading off the slides, so there is no information that you will miss if you’re not looking at the slides. How to view live captions we have covered by clicking the CC button in Zoom. If you have any questions you don’t have to wait until the end, just pop it in the Q&A box in Zoom next to the captions button. As you have already met John, John is one of the people running the session today. Myself and Vini, Vinicius Motta, one of our Future Leaders from the cohort that just finished. The cohort was with us from September 2024 to March 2025. With that I am going to handover to John who is going to talk to us about the programme.
JOHN KELLY: Thank you Deborah. I was able to spotlight myself there, hey! Brilliant. To audio describe myself, I’m a white Irish male wearing a white Specials t-shirt, you can’t see the word unless I move back like that, I have a big microphone on the side of my face and am sitting in the sitting room with lots of music paraphernalia including one saying peace, love and rock and roll. I’m a full time musician and work at Drake Music as Future Leaders development manager working with all the Future Leaders and Deborah and the rest of the team. I’ll talk for a while about the programme so you get an idea of the actual activity involved. As Deborah said, feel free to write any questions in the Q&A, there is a button at the bottom marked Q&A. Don’t hesitate to write any questions. We’ll try to be clear. At the end you can also put microphones on if Q&A writing isn’t very accessible to you. There are different ways to ask us questions.
Next slide please. What’s on offer? This is the first slide of 3 about what is on offer. First, the Future Leaders programme starts in September 2025 and goes on until March 2026. For the time you spend on the programme, you’ll get paid £2100 in total for taking part in payments of £300 per month. We’ll also pay for travel expenses and access costs on top of that amount of money.
What’s on offer, second slide. If you’re selected to be a Future Leader we’ll help you develop your skills and ideas through training to build knowledge, skills, self-confidence and awareness, mentoring from our team to set goals, explore your learning and support your wellbeing. Both of those are kind of online events that happen. Some are in the diary straightaway and some are to be set when we get you on the programme, those are the mentoring sessions. The training sessions are scheduled and we looking forward to running them.
Slide 3, what is on offer. If you are selected to be a Future Leader we will help you to develop skills and ideas through practical experiences with us and other organisations, to give real lived experience of what it’s like working in different parts of the music industry and really getting practical skills to help you progress in your career. The final point there is about leading a project, which we will help you to plan. So as part of the Future Leader programme you will have an opportunity to lead your own project. Those are the four key ways we deliver the programme: training, mentoring, practical experiences and leading a project. We work with you to make sure what you do meets your interests and your needs. We try to make sure the programme isn’t too proscriptive, so having to follow everything we set out. We try to build the programme based on your interests and needs and what you want to progress your career as a musician and as a person who works in music education and supporting others to grow and develop their skills.
Becoming a leader, I guess it is, yeah, becoming a Future Leader. What we expect from you. It’s important you attend the online activities which are running on Tuesdays 6-8pm. Those are some of the main ways we deliver the programme so it’s really important you’re able to attend those sessions. Obviously from time to time things happen and we get sick so we try to record things, but we expect everyone to try hard to attend those sessions and be there with us because they are rich opportunities for dialogue and conversation and a real opportunity to build your skills and understanding. We want you to spend at least one day a month self-directive, thinking by yourself about what is important for you to do. It might be around the project, or thinking you’ve been doing with a mentor, or writing up a reflection, something you’ve learned from a session that you want to put in a journal so you don’t forget it because it was useful or important. Because we’re all learning on this journey it’s really important we have your feedback all the way through your programme. So we’re always asking everyone to fill in an evaluation form. They’re really important for us as a team to shape what you do next, so you have a direct influence on what we do and what happens next. One way you do that is filling the evaluation forms and having conversations with us. The other thing we expect is you to produce a reflective piece for our blog, which can be written, video or audio. All these things I’m talking about at the moment are giving a good idea of what the programme is about, and how it changes as it evolves and we learn about the best way to do it for you. So the programme is bespoke, we build it around your skills and what you want.
Next slide please. There is something for everyone in this programme, all young Future Leaders. Interestingly everyone defines leadership in different ways. A lot of the programme is about you finding out for yourself what kind of leader you feel best brings out your skills, knowledge and experience. Everyone who applies will get access to 3 online training sessions. There’ll be the opportunity to join our new artist database. That’s a really useful database for all sorts of ways of being involved in networks and getting people to know you and your work. Then the option to receive our artist newsletter which is rich in information about what’s going on in the rest of the sector, jobs, opportunities and also things you can get involved with, with Drake Music and our partners. Because we work with not just our own organisation but with a number of partners within the music industries, who are sharing this journey with us. They provide lots of opportunities. So it’s a really valuable resource for you as a Future Leader to know what’s going on in the wider music industry.
So I think there’s no better way of really digging in to find out what the experience of being on the programme is really like than to invite Vini, one of our first Future Leaders on last year’s cohort. I’ll handover to Vini to just share your experience of what you did, what it was like, and how you found it being on the programme. So it’s such a lovely pleasure to see Vini again and welcome him to take us through the next bit.
VINICIUS MOTTA: Thank you so much. My name is Vinicius Motta, I go by Vini, pronouns he/him, a white Brazilian in my 20s, sitting in my room, with headphones, my hair is black and short and I’m wearing an orange polo shirt with blue details. Tonight I’ll talk about my experience in the programme. The programme is about you and your interests and what you want to be involved in. I am a composer, often working with ensembles and orchestras. I really struggled for a long time with recording, where I put on gigs and concerts, but when it comes to recording concerts and presenting it to someone after, I always had someone doing that for me. To me that was a barrier, because it was something I could be doing, or I wished I could find a way to communicate with people to organise the recording. that’s where Future Leaders came in. I told John and Deborah I really wanted to develop recording skills to communicate, record my own ensemble and record more projects. As part of that Drake Music partnered with a studio based in London, and during the programme I went to two intensive training days where I got to play with microphones, learn about acoustics, and how to mic instruments in different contexts – like a concert hall and studio, which varied a lot. That really helped with my project. My project was a recording based project where I a new solo violoncello piece of mine at a studio and I recorded it. It was a new experience and I felt really comfortable communicating with recording and sound engineers because I knew the terminology and now can help with organising the recording sessions. I’ve learnt quite a lot and am very grateful that some of the skills on the programme have proved very useful as I record more projects, and recording has become one of the main things I’ve been doing over the past month now.
So yeah.
DEBORAH BORG BRINCAT: Thank you so much Vini for sharing your experience with us. You are also happy to answer some questions at the end, if attendees would like to ask you questions, so thank you Vini.
We are going to now take a 5 minute break. We are aware it’s a lot of information we are giving you today, so wanted to make sure you get a screen break. We will be back at 6.27. See you in 5 minutes.
BREAK until 6.27
[Recording in progress]
DEBORAH BORG BRINCAT: Thank you everyone. We’re going to move onto the next section, all about how to apply. I appreciate that it is quite information heavy, this section, so feel free to ask us questions in the chat if you’ve missed anything or if anything isn’t clear. And if you’re watching the recording feel free to pause, rewind etc to make sure you have understood the information. If you can’t, please email us on info@drakemusic.org and ask us your question there.
We are providing access support to help you to apply. This could be to receive funding from us to pay a personal assistant you may have worked with in the past, or someone you would like to work with to help you apply for the position. You could also get application support from our access coordinator at Drake Music, Lisa. Lisa will help you write or record your thoughts in a way that works for you. In order to coordinate support and make sure Lisa can help you and we put aside money for a personal assistant, please let us know what support you need by 9am on Monday 23rd June, next Monday, by emailing us at info@drakemusic.org There are two forms you need to send in order to apply. The first is the application form. The second is a diversity and monitoring form, an anonymous form, but we need that information to know who is applying to programmes. The deadline is 9am on Wednesday 2nd July. Once you have submitted your application we’ll reply to confirm we’ve got the application, but please do give us time as we all work part time. We’ll let you know the outcome of your application by Friday 18th July, either way. The diversity and monitoring form I mentioned earlier, that is anonymous, is a Microsoft form, with 14 questions. If the form isn’t accessible to you please let us know and we’ll make sure to share the form in a format you prefer.
Now we’re on to the application form. In total there are 21 questions. however all of those questions, except for one, are short questions. We’ll go through them today. They are mostly short questions. There is only one longer question you might need to take time to write out.
I’ll read the slide now: 21 questions in total. Can you apply if a question with 5 short questions, your details section has 4 short questions, the optional access section has 2 short questions, the section about you and your career is 1 long section and 1 link to your work. The references is 2 short questions, meeting availability is 2 short questions and declaration is 4 short questions.
We are going to now go through the questions about whether you can apply. The section is called: Can you apply? This opportunity is for: people who identify as disabled, people who live in England, people who have the right to work in the UK, people 18-25 years old, and who can attend weekly sessions from 6-8pm on Tuesdays between September 2025 to March 2026. The first five questions are to make sure you are eligible: are you disabled, do you live in England, do you have right to work, are you 18-25 and can you attend weekly sessions on Tuesdays September 2025 to March 2026. If you answer yes to these questions then you can apply for the position.
The next section is called your details.
Actually I’ll just go back and say that in the application pack there are definitions of how we at Drake Music define disabled. That includes D/deaf and neurodivergent people. Do take a look at that definition if perhaps you don’t identify as disabled but identify in another way.
Now we’ll go to the next slide, Your Details. There are short questions: First and last name, postal address and contact email.
The next section is optional, titled access. It says do you have any communication access requirements you want us to know about during the application process? If yes, please describe them here. This is just about the application process. If you become a Future Leader that will be a different access process. You will meet our access coordinator Lisa who will make sure you can access the programme in the best way for you. The next question is would you like us to copy a PA or support worker into our emails, if yes write their email. This section is optional.
The next section is about your application, the longer answer we talked about earlier. The question: why would you like to be a Drake Music Future Leader. When making your answer tell us about things you’re good at, how you want to develop your skills and knowledge, and which job or jobs in the music sector you’d like to do in future. Your answer should be about 500 words if written, or 5 minutes long if in BSL, in audio or video format. If it’s a bit more or less than that, that’s fine, don’t worry too much about the limits.
We also want to see an example of what your work is like so we ask you to share a link to work you do. It could be a song you’ve written, song or piece of music you’ve performed, a video of you playing an instrument, a video of you leading a workshop or rehearsal, or a workshop plan. If you think about your practice or what your musicianship is like and are able to give us a related link, that would be really helpful to us.
The next session is titled references. We ask for two references, their first and last name, their organisation if they are linked to an organisation, their job or role, preferred method or contact, and how they know you. It could be a mentor, tutor, someone you’ve worked with in the past, or a collaborator. We just want to know who they are and how they know you.
The next section is about meeting availability. If you are shortlisted would you be able to come to an online get to know you meeting on one of the following days: Monday 28th July, Tuesday 29th July, or Wednesday 30th July. If not available then, could you tell us any dates before or after that you are available. They are an informal meeting for us to learn more about you, and for you to learn more about us and the programme. The next section is about convictions, and whether you have convictions not yet spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.
Next is a declaration confirming the information in the application is true to the best of your knowledge, and you write your name and the date.
As a reminder, to apply you need to send us your application form, which is available I believe in 5 formats – text only, large text, BSL, easy read and – I am missing one – and also the diversity monitoring form by 9am on Wednesday 2nd July. The missing one was audio. If you want to send your application in a different way, we’re also happy for you to do that.
Next we’ll reply to confirm we have your application and let us know the outcome of application by Friday 18th July.
That was a lot of information, I apologise, it’s very text heavy. Hopefully you got an understanding of the programme. We’d like you to share any questions you’ve got. We’ve got 20 minutes remaining until the end of the allocated time. This is the time to ask any questions if you have any.
We have got a question. The question is: would this programme be suitable for media composers? I focus on composing for film, TV, games and theatre. And the answer is yes. Our definition of musician also includes composers, DJs, performance artists, so the answer is yes, you would be able to apply and focus on that. John feel free to jump in at any point. I believe Vini also does this kind of work. We also have Vini as proof you can.
>>: Definitely.
JOHN KELLY: Definitely Vini, do you have a perspective on that?
VINICIUS MOTTA: To me the Future Leaders programme is, as you said, very bespoke. Whether you are composing, performing or teaching, there is a way to develop a new skill in the programme and make sure it works around what you are doing as a musician. I believe it is for anyone who wants to be involved in the music industry to be involved in the programme.
DEBORAH BORG BRINCAT: Thank you. Another question is do we need to know what our project will be or have a specific plan before applying? I will say, which is something we’ve not mentioned before, there is a £500 project budget, up to £500, that you can use to make your ideas and your project happen. You don’t need to know what it is. you will be guided by the team and your mentors will help you throughout the process, but it may be good to have an inkling, because the programme is not too long, it’s from September to March and the project will need to be delivered by probably a deadline of end of February or mid-March at the latest. It would help if you knew, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if you didn’t know.
VINICIUS MOTTA: For instance I didn’t know what I was doing for my project until I was 1.5-2 months into the programme. That changed a fair bit but I had Deborah and John to guide me through the process, and by the end I had what I wanted to get out of the project. At the beginning I had no idea what it was.
DEBORAH BORG BRINCAT: I wonder Vini if you can share a bit about that process from perhaps starting on the programme to understanding the programme, because I know you had a very interesting experience understanding the programme and leadership in general, and then that process that led you to do the project you brilliantly executed.
VINICIUS MOTTA: To begin with I struggled for the programme for around 2 months. I thought it had to be something else. I had my music practice, and then the programme, so I was trying to keep it separate from everything else I was doing. Eventually John and Deborah led a session about different types of leadership. Then I realised I didn’t have to separate the programme from everything I do, I could integrate it and use it as a platform to develop something that fits into everything else I am doing. Once I realised that the programme really clicked with me and I had more concrete ideas of what I wanted to achieve by the end of the programme. It took a while to click with me.
DEBORAH BORG BRINCAT: Thank you Vini. I wonder if there are any more questions or if John you had any questions you’d like to ask?
JOHN KELLY: I think the first few months of the programme are really about exploring, they’re really about getting an idea of what you want to achieve and also where you see your – what you want to progress in, and exploring what leadership means to you, rather than kind of some – like Vini said, it’s about the difference between it being a separate bit of your life to actually, this can help me throughout all sorts of aspects of my work, be that a musician in a rehearsal space, in a group ensemble, delivering a workshop or working with other young people. I notice there is another question up. Am I correct in saying the project can be any music related project to develop musicianship? Do they have to be directly related to our access needs and barriers? Your right, it’s about developing your musicianship as a leader. There is something about how you engage your creative platform with others, and how you work with teams as a leader, how you work with others as a leader. You might be a musician who uses a lot of technology and you get asked to demonstrate to others how you do that, so you’re in the role of a workshop or showing how you do your work, so it’s about your musicianship in that way, how you engage with others and develop skills to be a leader. It’s not necessarily around your particular needs or barriers. Although sometimes a lot of organisations, the way in for us as disabled artists, is to help organisations and industries become more accessible and inclusive. So you might have skills and knowledge about accessibility and inclusion. So I wouldn’t necessarily ignore that as a possibility. But yeah, it’s not necessarily about your needs or talking around disability for everything at all. That’s really only if that’s a route you wanted to take or you found that helpful. I have a note I want to share: music is at the heart of everything we do in the Future Leaders programme. So your question is right, it’s about your musicianship and leadership and how you engage with people in workshops or public speaking, or working in different settings, schools, colleges, or festivals, running something more engaging than just a performance, all those things, as well as helping the industry become more accessible and inclusive. I hope that answers your question.
DEBORAH BORG BRINCAT: Thank you for all your questions. Something to note is that the programme is largely delivered online. However there will be opportunities to travel to attend events, to travel to other organisations, to learn from others. So if it is possible, if it is possible for you to have that willingness to travel, that will support your learning and your leadership experiences. And travel and access costs will always be covered. John?
JOHN KELLY: I forgot the most important thing to say about all questions and answers is I’d encourage everyone watching this, if you meet the minimum criteria Deborah talked about, you identify as a young disabled person, 18-25, live in the UK, meet those basic eligibility criteria, I’d encourage you all to apply because it really is a unique opportunity, it’s really exciting, an opportunity to explore, be creative and try something new as well. Yeah, I just welcome you all to really consider giving it a go. We’re a really friendly bunch at drake. We have a lot of fun. I know tonight has been a lot of information, but we have a lot of fun on the journey, and there’s a lot of exciting opportunities. If you’re thinking you’re interested in becoming a leader in the music sector, this is a really good opportunity to have paid time to explore your skills and knowledge and put it into practice with a step forward. I encourage you to apply. Also tell your mates. If someone you know might be interested, we have a number of spaces on the programme. So there’s a real opportunity for you to get on board with this programme. I’m really excited and I hope this session encourages you all to say, Yep, that’s for me, I’m going to give this a go. If you give it a go, you haven’t lost anything, it’s like an experience. So thank you Deborah, for helping, and to Mel and Jacqui for signing, and Eluned, and Vini for sharing your valuable experience.
DEBORAH BORG BRINCAT: There is one more question in the chat. If you have more questions, do write them in. The question says are there any hard and fast rules around exploring elements of our musicianship which we are also exploring in education settings. Next year I hope to make a portfolio of work at Birmingham Conservatoire. Would it be an issue if we also do community music work with this programme? I cannot see that being an issue as long as the final project for one entity, for conservatoire, is not the same project. It would need to have maybe explored a different area that is not explored in that project. Essentially you can’t submit the same project for the two programmes. John, you agree?
I hope that that answered your question. If you’d like to ask us, you have specific things you want to ask, drop us an email, you can address it to me, Deborah, at info@drakemusic.org and we can help with that.
JOHN KELLY: Vini you had a similar experience, once you did crack the idea the Future Leader programme linked to other areas of your life, you had to think about what you were studying and what was good for the project, is there anything you would add?
VINICIUS MOTTA: Maybe try to frame your project in different ways. Maybe have a focus with the conservatoire that is assessed, and with the Drake Music programme have another area, so two very distinct areas that fit into each other. I think that could work.
DEBORAH BORG BRINCAT: We have a follow up question: could I write about my experiences with the programme in this portfolio? Do you mean portfolio – could you expand on what you mean by portfolio? As in, is it your university work portfolio?
I can also allow you to talk if you’d like to. I can hit it, and you can decline if you don’t like to.
>>: Hi, yes, sorry, can you hear me? Sorry for all my confusing questions.
DEBORAH BORG BRINCAT: no worries.
>>: Next year for my final project I will do a variety of different community music work. I will submit to my university a 10-12,000 word commentary and write up about my work in different settings. Would I be allowed to discuss what I do with Drake?
DEBORAH BORG BRINCAT: Not a problem, yes you could write about your research, findings, experience, in your university work. I don’t see why your university wouldn’t allow that.
I hope that’s coherent.
>>: Yeah that’s fantastic, thank you very much for your help.
DEBORAH BORG BRINCAT: You’re welcome, thank you for your questions. Brilliant, I think with that we come to an end. I’d like to say thank you to my lovely colleague John, and thank you to Vini for sharing your experience with us, thank you to our captioner Eluned for joining us this evening, and to our BSL interpreters Jacqui and Mel. With that, we will finish this call.
JOHN KELLY: Thanks everyone. Bye.
VINICIUS MOTTA: Thanks everyone.
END OF SESSION