The Basingstoke Music Initiative is a collaboration between us, RB Music and Proteus. RB Music is a collective of music lovers and creatives including myself, Lia and Jon Lovegrove, a titan in the local scene.

I fell in love with the music industry when I was 15. I had a strong passion for indie music and wanted to be a part of it. Unfortunately, I don’t have a rhythmic bone in my body, so the business side became my calling! Fast forward to 18 year old me, I met Jon who already had established RB and Sanctuary Live, and we began working together putting on gigs, curating local festival line-ups and managing bands.

Following the closure of Sanctuary and then the effect the pandemic had on the local music scene, we felt that we needed to rebuild what was once there and grow it to put Basingstoke on the map as a touring location for artists/bands. So we teamed up with Proteus to create The Basingstoke Music Initiative. We’ve been lucky enough to have been approved for funding by the government’s Levelling Up programme which provides us with the investment to make this project really thrive.

My role is overseeing and heading up the PR and marketing side of the project, working on advancing the project’s profile and cementing its place within the community alongside the wonderful marketing team at Proteus.

The Basingstoke Music Initiative is dedicated to igniting and rekindling the town’s love of independent music. We want to empower and uplift emerging, young talent whilst nurturing the growth of seasoned local musicians. We want to offer mentoring programmes for musicians, as well as those aspiring to thrive in the music industry, including managers, agents, PR specialists, and promoters.

Our ambition over the life of this project is to unlock the hidden talent in our educational
establishments and to enable new venues for music in the borough, making Basingstoke a
destination for audiences and musicians.

We’re hosting a launch party show at Proteus Creation Space on Saturday 11 November with headliners Carsick who have just finished their UK tour with headline venues double, even triple the size so we’re buzzing to have them in Basingstoke, especially at a 60-capacity venue. It’s going to be a really special night with performances from Masca, as well as locals Blockade and The Details. Bringing in the bigger bands and mixing the line-up with local talent gives us the perfect balance to show what The BMI is really about - giving Basingstoke’s music scene a platform nationally. Tickets are on sale now with special discounts for students. We want to encourage our youth to get involved in the project!

We’ve put our blood, sweat and tears into the build up of this project and we can’t wait to see how it now unfolds.

The Basingstoke Music Initiative is supported by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and
funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Thank you to Lia from RB Music for this blog.
November 2023