Inside the Journey of Wired4Music’s Event Production Trainees 2024

Meet Banji, Cairomia, and Jordan – three talented young people from our Wired4Music community that have immersed themselves in the world of event production over the last three months, working closely with the Wired4Music team as part of our six-month Event Production training programme. 

Mentored and supported by Tee Peters, our Programme Producer, and Jasmine Padda, our Marketing and Communications Coordinator – both of whom are practicing musicians and Wired4Music alumni – Banji, Cairomia, and Jordan have been hard at work since May. Each week, they’ve collaborated to craft, plan, and bring to life Wired4Music’s new live music event series, WIRED UP*.  

Now at the midpoint of their six-month journey, our budding Event Producers have already gained invaluable experience across diverse event-related areas, including hosting, creative direction, social media marketing, set design, and project management. We thought it would be the perfect time to check in with them, see what they’ve accomplished so far, and hear about their experiences in the programme! 

*Held on the last Thursday of every month, WIRED UP celebrates emerging music makers and the incredible organisations that are supporting them, within the iconic East London venue, Rich Mix. Learn more here > 

Cairomia

Cairomia leading the live jam with the house band at WIRED UP (June 2024).

The past three months at WIRED UP have been a great opportunity for me to break into the industry. As someone who already has a lot of admin skills and has also put on multiple independent events before, I was still able to benefit greatly from this team.

The main thing I gained I think is connections with different organisations and programs that run similarly to Sound Connections. At a conference for Youth Music, I was able to network with many industry professionals as well as young people who were in the same position as me, some of which I am still in contact with now. This helped me to visualise myself in the industry and feel like less of an outsider as I was starting off with no knowledge of what to do, where to go and how I fit into an already established and thriving community. There was also a panel discussion about neurodiversity which I found very helpful and comforting, as this is an area I am trying to learn more about with a recent diagnosis myself.

Additionally, the event planning has been a super fun experience. There’s been so much room for us to grow as individuals and focus on nurturing any skills we’d like to develop. As someone who is more creatively aligned but has only really had experience in technical and administrative roles, I am grateful to have been given the chance to play around with graphic design for the event, videography, and also set design. Being able to explore that and have a big influence on the final product is very fulfilling. Having the space to trial things to see what works and what doesn’t with the support of others on your team has really taken the pressure off of learning, and I can already see an improvement in my own events. Because of this programme, I can add so many points to my CV including presenting, managing a band, creative direction and I also have anecdotes to support these statements. I now feel comfortable claiming the title of ‘event producer’ even if I am at a low level.

Jordan

The last three months have been one of the best learning experiences I could have gotten. I feel like not only as a team but as an event, we have made a lot of progress in this time. In the first month we were quite unorganised and not very confident, leading to issues with time keeping, the lineup and general crowd engagement. However, following these last few months, we have managed to get everything planned and organised even a month in advance, gained confidence, become closer and more trusting within our group of colleagues, and managed to maintain audience engagement as well as a smooth overall event running.

Jordan hosting WIRED UP (June 2024).

This was not only due to our ‘trial and error’ period in the first month, but the fact we could then start prepping for the next WIRED UP event a month prior. This really helped the ease of things, especially with letting organisations know about running orders in advance, and also allowing more space to accommodate any last-minute issues such as organisations cancelling, which we have experienced.

We found and stuck to our roles pretty quickly, which allowed more ease of planning for upcoming events, and the work environment is very welcoming and flexible which helps group morale but also aids in building that trust and reliability. On my behalf, through hosting and artist liaison, I feel as though it helped to not plan as efficiently when it comes to the artist interviews, as the improvisation and personalisation actually helps the night run smoother.

I feel as though this role and the support of the team has really helped me grow in my confidence, but also made me a decent host. I feel as though I’ve made a lot of progress by working here so far and I hope to find similar workplaces like this in the future.

Banji

Banji performing at WIRED UP (June 2024).

The past three months as an event producer have been life changing and transformational for my growth. I’ve had a previous experience as an event producer once at Wired4Music back in February 2023, but this one was a completely different experience, both in terms of the event and personally. 

Wired4Music is normally used to doing one-off events for young people our age, so when we decided to put together a monthly event for the first time, I must admit it was a challenge at first. During the initial month of preparing and executing the live event, we faced some challenges with organisation and direction, which were visibly apparent. However, I felt that it was the best thing that has happened to us, as the best way of learning is through trial and error. We learnt our strengths and weaknesses, especially within the individual roles each of us event producers have taken on. The second and third month showcased our growth as a team, which directly impacted on the running and success of the event

My role consists of social media management/media duties which is a role I work  alongside Jasmine. This role was perfectly suited for me and was straightforward to transition to, due to me being a content creator with experiences of social media roles during my time at university. Tee Peters and Jasmine Padda helped me with my organisational skills and how to run social media more efficiently. For example, scheduling posts for certain days and the different types of content to create, so that people are engaged in our WIRED UP event. 

Despite me now shifting away from the music industry in terms of the direction I want to go, I feel like all skills that I’ve gained so far are applicable to projects I want to work on in the future and workshops I would like to take part in.