Open Artist Series: Identifying your music community

Being signed by a label, or getting huge streaming numbers. While these kinds of accomplishments are valuable and can make a huge difference to someone's career, they shouldn't be seen as the only indicator of artistic legitimacy or creative fulfilment.

In this free workshop led by experienced industry professional Jayne Stynes, you’ll explore how to push back against these traditional markers of ‘success’, and participate more meaningfully in the music industry.

Jayne will help you to:

• Consider how you see yourself as part of a wide range of 'music communities', identifying the people that have supported your musical journey so far
• Explore how to move away from the idea of networking as purely transactional, and approach the music industry in a more holistic way
• Build confidence in your own sense of belonging and identify potential areas of opportunity or collaboration in the future

Stick around for a drink afterwards and meet and connect with other artists and industry professionals working across the North.

Who's it for

Open to anyone working in music - as an artist, independent or facilitator - or any combination. We recognise many of you have a varied portfolio career.

Whether you're just getting started or have been doing this for years, everyone's welcome!

Booking information

Tickets are free but limited to 30 places, so please make you register to secure your place.

If you've registered but are no longer able to make it please let us know so we can offer your spot to someone else. Email [email protected]

About the Open Artist Series

A series of free informal events to connect and support the North's independent music scene, and help artists to build and develop sustainable careers.

This is the first of three Open Artist Series events taking place this year. To stay in the loop, please sign up to our newsletter at the footer of this page.

About Jayne Stynes

Jayne Stynes is lecturer in commercial music at the University of the West of Scotland and a PhD researcher at the department of Media and Communications at the University of Leeds. Her research explores the significance of gender-equality initiatives in the UK music industries. Jayne was previously the General Manager at the Music Managers Forum, a not-for-profit music trade body with over 1200 members. Prior to this, she spent six years with Eleven Management, the innovative artist-led management company whose roster included Damon Albarn, Blur, Gorillaz, The Clash, Róisín Murphy, Kano and Spoek Mathambo. During her time at Eleven, Jayne worked on five UK top five-album campaigns, Brit and MOBO Award winning acts, as well as Grammy and Mercury Music Prize nominated records.