Following her OBE investiture in February, Tomorrow’s Warriors Co-Founder Janine Irons reflects on how she discovered her passion for music, the origins of TW and the challenges ahead.
“My recent OBE investiture for Services to the Music Industry was also a celebration of the work and achievements of Tomorrow’s Warriors.
To find myself in the spotlight is a rarity. I have spent the best part of 32 years working in the background with my partner in life and work, the jazz double-bassist, Gary Crosby, growing the work of Tomorrow’s Warriors, which we founded back in 1991.
But being recognised with an OBE had placed me in the spotlight, and it caused me to reflect on the journey that has bought us here.
And, what a journey this has been!
Those who know my background will know how personal Tomorrow’s Warriors is to me. I was a child of aspirational working-class immigrants to the UK, a French mother and Jamaican father. I had a talent for piano-playing and dance, and my parents – who loved and recognised the value of the arts – scrimped and saved to nurture my talent.
School wasn’t a happy place for me. Though I went to academically sound grammar schools, racism seemed built into every subject on the curriculum. I was a bright and energetic child who loved to help others, but my creative energy was seen as disruptive, and I experienced several exclusions. I was constantly told that no good would come of me. However, there was one person, my English teacher, who recognised in me something worth supporting. She arranged for me to get space during the lunch hour to teach my friends piano and dance, a way to channel all that excess energy in a positive way. This was the beginning of my leadership journey and, looking back, it was the moment I recognised the importance of having a champion, someone who believed in me and my talent.
As a teenager, I sang in a funk band, then studied dance for a year at the Laban Conservatoire. My first office job was in the new music department of Boosey & Hawkes, before I headed to the City of London to work in international banking operations, where I honed my organisational skills.
Fast forward to 1993, when I met Gary, who opened up a whole new world for me, one destined to change my life, and the lives of many others, for the better.
Gary and I shared a vision of more equitable and hopeful prospects for talent from diverse backgrounds, young jazz musicians at the dawn of their artistic careers, when they are most vulnerable, susceptible to being pulled in the wrong direction, marginalised, undervalued and ignored. So, Tomorrow’s Warriors was conceived at the grassroots of the music industry, the entry-point of the talent pipeline.
Some three decades ago, there was no home for young British jazz musicians from diverse backgrounds to learn their craft or improve skills, no organisation that understood their needs, no infrastructure to build nascent talent, nowhere to learn through experimentation or be mentored by those more experienced.
Certainly, there was no organization offering all this for free!
Gary and I were inspired to support the next generation by pioneering an inclusive talent development programme: to provide vital early career opportunities to aspiring artists, with a focus on those from Black, Asian, and other ethnically diverse backgrounds, on female musicians and on those facing socio-economic barriers to pursuing a career in the music industry.
Giving them the means to develop their artistry through our £FREE Learning and Development Programme, we’ve been able to incubate artists across the spectrum, from emerging to world class. We strive to create a community of young people who want to play jazz and turn their passion into a profession.
From this commitment to nurture and develop talent, Tomorrow’s Warriors has earned its reputation for progressive excellence, garnering 60 awards, alongside national and international recognition.
Our core ethos is “Each One, Teach One”, with each generation supportive of the next, sharing skills, passing on the legacy and building a vibrant, ever-evolving, self-sustaining community of artists and audiences. It is this culture that has seen a new British jazz scene emerge, featuring many award-winning Tomorrow’s Warriors’ alumni, including Denys Baptiste, Soweto Kinch, ESKA, Shabaka Hutchings, Moses Boyd, Nubya Garcia, Sheila Maurice-Grey, Cassie Kinoshi, Dave Okumu, Blue Lab Beats, Camilla George, Peter Edwards and, of course, 2023’s Mercury Music Prize winners, EZRA Collective, who met and were formed at Tomorrow’s Warriors.
So far, Tomorrow’s Warriors has reached more than ten thousand 11-to-25-year-olds outside of traditional formal education, consistently providing music education and talent development that is free at the point of access to those who need and deserve it. But we face some major challenges.
The UK education sector has seen savage funding cuts that have reduced, in some cases eliminated, music programmes in schools. These cuts will have a lasting, detrimental impact on the UK’s cultural output. “Children from families with an income of under £28k are half as likely to learn an instrument compared to those from families with an income of more than £48k.” Among England’s orchestral workforce, only 3%-6% were Black, Asian or from other ethnically diverse groups. Fast forward to Glastonbury or London Jazz Festival in 2034 and beyond…. Who will be on stage in future if those facing barriers don’t get the chance to learn an instrument today?
Despite these statistics, we have seen pockets of progress. With an intentionally equitable and inclusive approach to learning that encourages a sense of community and belonging, positive change can happen.
Each of the more than 160 Warriors we’re currently working with has their own story but can testify to the value of our free training and our long-term holistic approach to their development.
In 2023, our impact was incredible: on top of roughly 400 of weekly jazz development sessions at the Southbank Centre, and more than 100 concerts and performances, including London Jazz Festival, Gilles Peterson’s We Out Here and Glastonbury, we also provided instruments to musicians, launched a career mentoring scheme for our emerging artists with Decca, commissioned new music supported by PPL UK, packed 37 workshops, masterclasses and jams into our Summer School, thanks to Adobe Inc, and collaborated with Stormzy and Adele’s producer Fraser T. Smith and award-winning director Steve McQueen on a new Greenpeace campaign.
Heartfelt thanks go to all who have supported Tomorrow’s Warriors! With everyone’s help, we can keep making a huge difference, stay true to our purpose and bring through the next jazz generation to sustain a fresh, diverse, and exciting UK jazz scene.”
Janine Irons, OBE
February 2024