Last week, more than 100 young creatives, industry professionals, educators and youth music organisations gathered at Bristol Beacon for our fourth Industry Connect Coalition event: a two‑day space designed to imagine, build and demand safer, fairer pathways into music and creative work. 

Building on our 2025 gathering in Nottingham, this year’s event expanded to 1.5 days of talks, workshops, live performances and collective action‑building, shaped directly by feedback from coalition members. The focus was clear: Driving Change for Music & Youth Futures - moving beyond conversation into shared messaging, shared asks, and shared responsibility. 

Creating space for young voices

We started with a session just for young people, giving everyone time to learn what the event was about, share what they needed, and feel comfortable before the main programme began. This helped young attendees feel confident and able to take part in a way that worked for them.

The main programme then kicked off with a series of spotlight talks from artists and changemakers, including Mya the Third, a DJ from our funded partner, Saffron, and a live performance from Welsh artist Sage Todz. There were also talks from Elizabeth J. Birch (Youth Music NextGen Fund artist and Youth Music Awards 2023 Inspirational Music Leader Award winner) and Malaki Patterson (CEO of our funded partner, The Music Works), who challenged us to ask: What does it mean to do the right thing - and who decides what’s possible?

Imagining better futures - then building them

Day one focused on the group activity “Building Better Futures.” Attendees were asked to picture what a fairer, healthier music industry could look like, and then think about the practical steps needed to get there. Key themes came up around sharing power, valuing youth work and mentoring, improving routes into creative jobs, and making safety, ethics and access a priority from the start.

Across Bristol Beacon’s spaces, people shared experiences, discussed challenges, and shaped ideas together, with plenty of pens, paper, music breaks, and tea and cake to keep things flowing.

The day ended with a session called “These things we know,” where everyone reflected on what changes need to happen now to make those imagined futures real. The evening social then offered a relaxed space for people to unwind, connect and keep the conversations going.

From insight to action

Day two opened with more talks, including live music from young artist, GROVE, and reflections from Art Not Evidence co-founder Elli Brazzill and Miri Layzell‑Calder (Music Leader at our funded partner AudioActive), before diving into the Hackathon.

Together, attendees explored two key questions: what we want government, industry and music education leaders to do, and how we can communicate those asks clearly and in a way that speaks to young people. These conversations led into the final session, “Sound the Alarm,” where the group worked together to turn their ideas into simple, strong messages to shape the Coalition’s next steps.

A collective commitment

Throughout AGORA, one thing was clear: real change happens when young people, grassroots organisations and industry leaders work side by side in coalition. 

Looking ahead, this event moved us closer to a shared plan for a safer and fairer music industry. It also showed why the youth music sector is essential and should be properly supported.

The ideas generated in Bristol will now feed directly into the Coalition’s wider strategy.

What's next?

We’ll be sharing the resulting messaging work, advocacy plans and next‑stage actions with the Coalition community in the coming weeks. In the meantime: If you were part of AGORA, thank you for joining us!

Images by Youth Music NextGen Photographer, Chloe Morris | @chloemorris.photography