Trailblazer Fund Application
Presentation Deck

  1. ABOUT

CHORUS Songwriting CIC is on a mission to promote gender equality in the music industry, through creative retreats that empower young women and gender diverse songwriters in the South West.

The aims of our immersive Songwriting Retreats are to: develop collaborative skills, strengthen connections among creative peers and build confidence to pursue music pathways.

Our vision is to enhance wellbeing, encourage creative careers and in-turn enrich the communities in which these musicians will be practitioners.

2. THIS GRANT

This grant will fund three CHORUS Songwriting Retreats in 2026 in Jan, May and September.

  • These retreats will be co-designed with participants so that they may get the most out of this opportunity to spend time with peers and build their skills.

  • Each retreat will be an immersive and impactful experience for 10 young adult women and gender diverse developing musicians who face barriers due to rural isolation and economic deprivation.

  • The retreats will happen across different areas of the South West (Somerset, Devon and Cornwall) to make it possible for young adults from different parts of the South West to attend.

  • Participants will be found by reaching out through partner organisations across the South West, through social media marketing and paid ads, and in-person networking (i.e. word-of-mouth, scouting open-mic nights).

  • Participants will apply through a registration form which will ask for links to their songs and socials, bio and ask for a short description of why they’d like to attend (with video/voice note application options available). In the instance that there are more eligible applicants than places available, then a volunteer panel of industry professionals will meet to decide on the final group.

These immersive retreat experiences will empower musicians and strengthen the network of singer/songwriters in the South West. Previous retreats have led to subsequent new projects, friendships, and other creative endeavours between participants.

3. EXAMPLE ITINERARY

SATURDAY
8.00am - Morning Dance (optional)

8.30am - Breakfast

9.30am - Workshops Start
Morning Circle and Ice Breaker Game

TASK 1 ‘Sing along for the CHORUS’
Play a variety of popular songs to guess with sequence Em C G D.
In groups, they have 30 mins to collaboratively write a chorus to these chords. Then each group plays back what they came up with.

TASK 2 ‘Titles to Lyrics…’
Start with a 10 min stream of consciousness task, writing whatever comes to mind without stopping. Then find within this any words or phrases that could be song titles. Writing one title each out onto a piece of paper and putting into a hat, everyone picks one that isn’t theirs. They have 45 mins to write some lyrics (not music) to this song title. 

1pm - Lunch Break

2.30pm - Workshops Continue

TASK 3 ‘Collaborative Vocal Improvisation’
Special guest facilitator and choir leader Anna Ling joins the group to lead in a CVI session - exploring the freedom, fun and play in the practise of Collaborative Vocal Improvisation, and discuss how this can be used as a songwriting tool.

TASK 4 ‘…Lyrics to Music’
The second part of the session before lunch. Participants collect a lyric sheet from those written from the titles, and they have time until dinner to put music to these lyrics.

5.00pm - Free time or Cooking Team

6.30pm - Dinner 

8pm - Show + Tell
Sharing the results of the songs collaboratively written through the ‘Titles to Music to Lyrics’ task.

4. EVIDENCE OF NEED

While studying for her Songwriting degree in 2019, our founder Anna Anise was noticing barriers to collaborative music making among her peers. This was further exacerbated by the lockdowns during the pandemic, when musicians weren’t able to meet in person.

She used her academic study to run surveys and focus groups with fellow students. She found that young women in particular were faced with barriers to collaborative music making spaces (open-mics, co-writing sessions, ‘jam’ nights) due to feeling intimidated, a lack of confidence, a lack of representation and not being ‘taken seriously’.

These findings are reflected in wider research:

  • The Parliament Women and Equalities Committee ‘Mysogony in Music’ report (January 2024) explored underrepresentation of women in music, sexual harassment and its impact on female artists.

  • The inquiry concluded that the music industry had significant work to do in addressing misogyny, improving representation of women, and providing a safer and more supportive environment for women at all levels.

  • Women remain underrepresented in the music creation process, despite a more even gender split across the music industry as a whole (UK Music Diversity Report, 2022).

  • In 2022, women accounted for only 14% of songwriters on Billboard's year-end Hot 100 chart, a slight decrease from 14.3% in 2021.

  • Research by The F List shows that although progress is being made in some areas, only 14% of Signed Artists on over 100+ UK publishing rosters are female (Bain, 2019).

CHORUS has been involved with a variety of development projects for women (and LGBTQIA+) musicians, funded by Arts Council England, BIMM Bristol Uni, School for Social Entrepreneurs, FEAST Cornwall and Access Folk (Uni of Sheffield).

These projects have included performances, workshops, sing-a-rounds, and skill development sessions, but the retreats remain the core activity and priority. The support from these funders and organisations, as well as from the public and attendees to the events, further evidences the need and desire for this work in communities.

5. CO-DESIGN WITH YOUTH

The work of CHORUS is focused on empowering and developing young songwriters, equipping them with the resilience and skills needed to overcome and navigate the barriers they are likely to encounter in the music industry.

An important part of every retreat has been to collect feedback from the attendees. This has helped shape the development of these events over the past 5 years. We have obtained feedback from at least 75% of participants from each event so far.

To ensure we gather quality feedback from as many participants as possible we:

  • Clear communication about the importance of their honest feedback for our co-design model is expressed to the participants during the retreat, so they may understand the wider impact.

  • Have a tick-box upon registration for participants to confirm they understand that they will be asked share feedback after the event.

  • Remind participants about the feedback form in the closing circle at the end of the retreat.

This feedback is analysed before the design of the next retreat, and all comments and suggestions are taken into consideration. Each retreat has been guided by the thoughts from previous retreat participants, developing all aspects of the events including the itinerary, format, length, location and facilitators.

As part of this next chapter for CHORUS Songwriting we will enhance this co-design process by:

  • Introducing a new ‘Post-retreat Co-design Session’ where the retreat feedback will be assessed with a young participant representative and the next retreat developed.

  • This representative will be in attendance to support the voice of the participants and elaborate on the comments raised in the feedback forms.

We feel confident that this method will help the retreats to grow inline with the wants and needs of the young adults we work with.

6. WHO WILL TAKE PART?

Project Participants will be 18-25 year olds from economically deprived and/or rurally isolated locations. Working across the South West where the cities are smaller and in shorter supply (Truro, Exeter and Plymouth) there are many young musicians far from cultural centres and the UK music scene, and without public transport routes to help bridge these distances.
We allow participants to self-identify with these demographics during the application process, granting them autonomy and respecting their personal understanding of the barriers they face.

Volunteers will be women and non-binary musicians further down the line in their careers (25-35yrs) who will act as mentors and supporters through the activities on the retreats. here will be a high ratio of volunteers (5 per retreat) to the young adults attending (10 per retreat) because we’ve understood through participant feedback about the importance of varied role-models to exemplify the various paths taken to having a career in music.

Our facilitators are: Anna Anise a touring singer/songwriter and events producer based in the South West (also project manager and Safeguarding lead) and Anna Ling (choir leader, touring & recording artist).

Each retreat will have a season run by a special guest facilitator. These guests will change in line with the needs and suggestions of the participants, and will be found through the Project Partners.

Our Project Partners, who will support with reaching potential participants, advice and consultation, include: BIMM Uni, Patchwork Studios, Access Folk (Uni of Sheffield), The F List, Queer Kernow, SinSerity Productions, Cuculi Records, and more.

Venues used include WilderMe Glamping, an award-winning off-gird site in Cornwall; Eden Rise, an environmentally conscious retreat centre in Devon; and YHA Street, a charming chalet and the oldest Youth Hostel in the UK.

These locations have been chosen to be relaxing, inspiring and immersive to support the aims of the retreats. However, these venues will be subject to change in the instance that the ‘Post- Retreat Co-Design Sessions’ concluded that there is a strong desire for a different approach from the youth feedback.

7. BARRIERS THEY FACE

The South West faces economic deprivation that limits opportunities for career development and participation in the cultural landscape that cities and other regions have to offer.

  • High cost of tickets, travel and accommodation make attending courses, events and development opportunities too expensive.

  • Our research into Songwriting Retreat experiences across the UK found that the average cost was £400+, with very few of them aimed at young adults specifically.

  • Fewer affordable alternatives (like group music lessons, pay-what-you-can tickets) are available where there are less people and less events happening.

  • Fewer job opportunities and artist development pathways exist outside of cultural cities and without access to these job markets, young people may struggle to build careers in music or even find part-time work related to their musical interests.

  • Lack of local music industry presence, cultural stigma (‘unrealistic career choice’), increased competition for funded development programs and reduced accessibility to higher education are also factors.

Rural isolation in the South West has significant implications for young adults' access to music opportunities.

  • A lack of reliable public transport and long travel distances makes it difficult for young people to attend live music events and festivals, which are often located in urban centres. In the South West public transport options are less frequent, and rural areas are often poorly connected.

  • Limited exposure to the diversity of music genres and cultures means that young adults in rural communities may miss out on the broad range of impactful musical experiences that are available in cities.

  • Fewer Local Role Models and Mentors and isolation from larger music hubs and lack of local professionals to be of inspiration can limit young people’s aspirations and opportunities within the music world.

  • Unreliable digital connectivity, cost of travel, lack of local music education and limited venue options have also been reported as barriers.

8. YOUTH-LED DEVELOPMENT

Previously, we have taken the various suggestions brought to light through the feedback forms, and either implemented these changes or developed them further.

For example

  • After our Summer Retreat in 2022 numerous participants commented on the desire for the retreat to be longer, so we increased the next one to 4 days.
    However, we found that the extended time commitment actually reduced the number of potential participants, as some were unable to afford to take that time away from other work/responsibilities. Acknowledging this barrier, we ran a poll with over 30 previous attendees which revealed a preference to returning to a 3 day retreat in order to fit it into a weekend, so we adapted accordingly.

  • On another occasion, participants voiced a desire for more content around practical steps to developing a musical career. We took this onboard and ran our first Music Careers session at the Winter Songwriting Retreat 2025.
    This was a great success, with comments such as ‘the session about how to create a livelihood from music was extremely important and useful’. We will build on this on our Summer Songwriting Retreat 2025, introducing a panel talk by successful career musicians from Cornwall and Devon to exemplify the realities of what a music career looks like in a rural area.

This is an ever-evolving process that will steer our ever-evolving retreat offering in-line with the wants and needs of our participants towards the overall aim of building collaborative skills, connections and confidence,

9. TESTIMONIALS

‘‘Honestly it was life changing, even just being at one with nature, no distractions, no phones or the outside world, just a beautiful welcoming group of people all loving music just as much as everyone else! It was magical.’’
- Izzie, Summer Retreat 2023

“The environment was so supportive and encouraging. There was no sense of judgement from anyone. It was a space built for people to grow and flourish in.”
- Olive, Winter Retreat 2025

“Writing from your own point of view and experience can sometimes feel lonely and like you're in a spiral. To witness others greatness in such an open and honest way encapsulates what collaborative work is to me.”
- Ruby, Summer Retreat 2024

“The collaborative experience has provided me with inspiration for my personal writing process! I’m so much more open to asking for support and opinions from others now, and comfortable with contributing ideas of my own in musical and social contexts.”
- Elly, Winter Retreat 2025

10. FURTHER INFO

CHORUS Songwriting has been operating as a CIC since March 2023, and started its activity in 2020.

As well as our ever-evolving co-design structure, we aim to foster a non-hierarchical culture where everyone is valued and treated with the same respect and enthusiasm for their ideas no matter their experience or career stage.

We include gender diverse individuals in our retreats, which we have consciously considered in the understanding that there are specific intersectional barriers that gender diverse musicians from the LGBTQIA+ community face. We have found the trans, non-binary and gender diverse participants from previous retreats have felt included, valued and benefited from the retreats and we endeavour to ensure remain as inclusive and welcoming for this participants as possible.