Last week, our Co-Founder and CEO Janine Irons OBE and some of our young Warrior musicians were invited to ‘An evening with Femi Koleoso and Lisa Nandy at Spotify’, an exclusive event for young artists at Spotify UK’s HQ on Embankment, London.
It was at Tomorrow’s Warriors that Femi and his EZRA Collective bandmates met and formed the band, and following the band’s recent BRIT Award win, Femi beautifully name-checked Tomorrow’s Warriors in his acceptance speech, so it was heart-warming for Tomorrow’s Warriors to be invited to this special event by Spotify UK.
Tomorrow’s Warriors received funding from Youth Music and Spotify which helped us deliver the next chapter of A Grime Supreme, this time in Brighton. This ground-breaking outreach initiative is all about collaboration and crossing genres, inspiring young local music producers and MCs to work with jazz artists to genre spanning music and build new communities through music. So, it was wonderful to be able to have participants from the project join us on the night to make the most of this incredible opportunity to see and hear from Femi in person
The evening kicked off with a rousing address by the Secretary of State for Culture Lisa Nandy, who spoke about the importance of British music. This was followed an inspirational fireside chat hosted by Yinka Bokini, with Femi who was joined by Safiya Lambie-Knight, Spotify’s Head of Music UK and Ireland.
Femi is a huge champion of young people, and uses his platform to advocate for youth organisations and the unifying power of music. With an audience of young musicians at the start of their careers, he spoke to them about his experiences of navigating the industry, with insights, stories, life lessons and advice for young people beginning their own creative journeys.
Thank you to Femi, Spotify UK and Youth Music for a hugely inspirational evening!