For over twenty years, community music group YWMP has been providing spaces for young people to express themselves creatively, through workshops, jam sessions and live gigs. And this year, that space is getting even bigger, as the team move into their new home, The Nest, recently launching a crowdfunder to make the space the best that it can be and to reach out even further within the community. We chatted with organiser Zahra Haji Fath Ali Tehrani about what's in store for the new venue.
Daily Information: For anyone unfamiliar, tell us a little about the kind of work YWMP does?
Zahra Haji Fath Ali Tehrani: YWMP provides an inclusive space for young women, trans and non-binary people aged 14-25 to come and try new things, or work on things they already have an interest in! That can be everything from playing an instrument for the first time, to honing a craft like DJing, playing in a band, learning how to produce or sound engineer, or even manage events. We also run courses like drum troupe, and run arts-based activities like zine-making, printing and designing, so it's quite a vast array of things that the project offers! And we keep things free for young people, because it's hard to access good quality support in Oxford.
DI: How has being able to make music impacted the lives of the young people you work with?
ZHFAT: I think I'd like to quote from one young person that joined YWMP: "It provided me with opportunities that I would never have dreamed of, including employment and an incredible community which is one of the few places that I feel at home." A lot of young people that we've worked with have said it feels like a second home or like a family - I know that's kind of a cliche for community projects, but I've worked for many organisations and run lots of community projects in Oxford and London, and I've never witnessed something that's so embedded in people's lives.
I think the project offers safety and security and a place to take off your armour; be yourself, make mistakes, come with what you know and feel free to mess up and be supported in that. That's a really invaluable thing that I don't think is encouraged enough in mainstream education, or really in community generally. There's no facade - we accept you as you are and support you to find the tools to learn new things as you go.
DI: You’ve also been big proponents of the Safer Spaces policy to make live venues safer and more accessible - could you tell us about the impact of that project?
ZHFAT: The Safer Spaces project began in 2023 as a response to an act of violence that we witnessed in one of the shows I was performing at, from the venue towards a member of the public. It triggered something in me that brought back a lot from my teens growing up in Oxford and being in a band, and I decided to make a change by applying for funding to work on this policy, so we have something really concrete that we can trial and test. We aim to figure out a system in which bands, venues, promoters, audience members can all be held accountable and hold each other accountable for access needs, or for bands the expectations of the promoter and audience behaviour, to be taken seriously.
In the past year we've been working on developing that policy - last year we did talks across Manchester, London, Liverpool and Leeds. We spoke to different types of venues; we did a survey across all those cities; we asked people that were running or promoting spaces about their experience of events in their city; and we also had QandAs with contributions from the panel and audience as documented evidence so we can implement that policy in our new space.
This year we're also planning to trial the policy across those cities for one show at a time. The idea is to trial and test it every single time we run an event in our space until we can get to a point where it can be offered as a training programme to venues to hold them accountable and keep the standards high, so people feel more comfortable when they're at shows and musicians and venues are treating each other with respect.
DI:What’s your favourite event/project that YWMP has been a part of so far?
ZHFAT: Oh, that's a big one, I've been doing this for 21 years! I think my favourite thing we've done consistently for 10 years is host takeovers or day events. There's so much happening on those days; workshops, talks, panel discussions and live performances. The last one we did was No. 80 last year and that was amazing - we've done so many of them under different names. It's my favourite thing because it shows the community what we are. People travel in and go "whoa, what IS this?", and then we get to highlight the project, but also elements outside of it in our extended family across the UK and further afield. You can invite them in to be a part of that, with everyone showcasing what they're doing together, and then the community can grow and learn from those experiences. I think the way that we hold those kind of events feels so special, especially in Oxford, which is quite a complex place.
DI: You’re currently fundraising for your new space on Little Clarendon Street to expand YWMP even further - what can we expect to see in your new home?
ZHFAT: The core of the project is going to be the Safer Spaces policy; that's going to be operating at every show, even the ones that we're not curating; what I'm looking forward to is seeing how that will grow. YWMP will be hosting events, like our day-to-day workshops that run week-in, week-out for young people; we'll also be expanding how we deliver workshops so they'll be open to pretty much everybody, but with a focus on young women, trans and non-binary people aged 14-25.
There'll be a space to rehearse, a space to organise, a space to read political books, to come and relax without having to spend money. It'll also be a place you can hire as an individual, a group or an organisation - it'll have a sliding scale of prices to be more accessible and equitable for people in the community.
DI: You’ve already hosted some fantastic fundraiser events, including a launch party at Common Ground, a film screening of Peaches Nisker’s Teaches of Peaches at the UPP and a drag karaoke night at the Tap Social; what other events can our readers head to this month to show their support?
ZHFAT: We're doing a drum workshop at Modern Art Oxford on the 19th which will be open to everybody, followed by a multiple person drum performance, which will be really cool! The day before that we'll be doing a fundraiser at eartH Hackney, and then on the Saturday we'll be closing the crowdfunder at Below the Belt, which will be at our new space The Nest (33-35 Little CLarendon St) - that'll be a day DJ performance with a special guest we'll be announcing soon! We're also releasing one of our films online, What's Left After the Wave Hits.
You can watch, donate, go to any of the events - or host your own event if you want to! People are doing their own things to raise money, like encouraging colleagues to donate or sharing within their networks.
DI: Where can people find YWMP online and how can folks donate to the crowdfunder?
ZHFAT: There's a list on YWMP.org.uk of all the events coming up, why we're raising money and a video explaining what we're raising money for. You can find us on all social media as YWMP Oxford; follow, share and tell a friend!
Image credits: Haley Drolet