Electronic Music At Raw Material

For well over a decade, Raw Material has been a vital centre of music, creativity and wellbeing for the communities in and around South London. Raw’s work centres on the understanding that creative and social activities have a major role to play in promoting mental health; and over the years their termly programme has included many such activities, and been as wide-ranging as singing, DJing, songwriting, live jamming, photography, dance, theatre and set design.

Electronic music has been a core feature of Raw's programming due to the consistently high demand it has received from the community across generations. Over the years, Raw Material has worked with a number of acclaimed DJs and producers (DoubleO and Louise Plus One) and partners regularly with organisations including festivals, radio stations, and music companies. Crucially, Raw makes electronic music resources and training available to members of the community facing challenges of access, enabling a journey in music-making that would have otherwise not been possible.

There is always a plethora of ways of exploring electronic music at Raw. For producers of all stripes and colours, In The Mix is a bimonthly professional feedback programme to which they can bring musical works-in-progress. The programme marries personal discussion, industry level insights, and professional guidance to empower participants to develop their project further, and even to explore new avenues within their practice. At the same time, for those new to electronic music, Raw Material offers introductory courses in DJing and Production. These programmes recognise the value that social interaction as well as creative activities can have on mental health and wellbeing, and so prioritise collaboration, sharing and individuated outcomes. A special one-off programme is also on the horizon. Millennium Girls marries theatre and electronic music, bringing together an all-female / non-binary cast against a musical backdrop of UK Garage and 90s classics to create a performance which explores identity, girlhood and consent.

At the end of April Raw Material will be opening its doors yet again to welcome back another cohort from the wider South London creative community. Everyone is warmly encouraged to get involved and discover all of the genuinely amazing benefits that come from meaningful participation in creative and social activities. More information is available by browsing the Programmes section of our website.