AudioActive sits neatly at the nexus of those two; a youth-led music organisation set apart by its commitment to social action in tandem with grassroots talent development for emerging artists. By working with young people who might find themselves in digital poverty, at risk of crime or simply curious about making music, AudioActive offers a dependable space for young people to express themselves without fear of judgement through regular sessions, events, and cyphers across regional towns in and around Sussex. Upheld by the community of mentors and trusted adults working within the organisation, AudioActive has a workforce of dedicated care-informed people, many of whom came up through the organisation themselves or share the lived experiences of some of the young people they work with.

Michelle herself has always maintained a close relationship with care, both in a professional sense and also as someone who credits a key worker with saving her life at the tender age 16. Her journey within, between, and beyond the realms of care and music is clear – they are both part and parcel of her nature, and organically weave into the fabric of AudioActive. By orchestrating the organisation both behind-the-scenes and on-the-ground in the good company of CEO Adam Joolia, Michelle is uniquely positioned in her bird’s eye view of all operations, but despite her chock-a-block diary, will always have time for everyone.

From pasting up Ministry of Sound posters all over the city of London, to the BUILDHOLLYWOOD poster partnership now providing a visual reminder of AudioActive’s Sussex-wide presence, Michelle’s message remains steadfast; having a space where young people feel cared for and creative is at the bedrock of AudioActive’s mission.

For those who might not know, how would you describe AudioActive’s mission and what sets it apart from other youth music organisations?

We believe that young people and children should have access to free music-making sessions to be able to explore their creativity and community in a safe place. It’s important that they have access to trusted adults and environments that are welcoming, where people can feel like they belong and thrive.

AudioActive doesn’t turn anyone away. We understand that we work with young people who might be in digital poverty, they might not see other people who mirror them in other places, organisations, school, communities etc, whereas within our mentoring team and who we’ve got employed, there’s every type of person or personality in our team in some way, and I think that’s really important. There’s a real community feel to what we run.

You’ve had a really varied career spanning years at the Ministry of Sound and 16 years of working in the homeless charity sector in senior positions. What brought you to each of these very different spaces, and how do these creative and care-focused worlds collide at AudioActive?

I was in a hostel when I was 16, and the whole hostel played music. On our two floors there was drum and bass, jungle, reggae, soul, jazz, funk, hip hop – the lot. Then there was another room where they were playing trance, but no one was ever like “I don’t like that music”, there was always a kind of real curiosity about what’s going on. That was really cool.

Because I was in a hostel when I was younger, I always wanted to give back. I had a key worker, her name was Emma, and she pretty much saved my life when I was 16. So as I got older, I worked with Ministry of Sound in a really fast-paced, brilliant environment, working with some real giants in the scene at the time when I was this 22-year-old kid.

I did that for a long time – I was actually a promoter from when I was 19 to 35, and being a female promoter back in the day was challenging work. Not just because I was a female, but also because I was young. I was there doing it for the music and for the people, and I loved it, but because I’d had this experience when I was younger in the hostel with Emma supporting me, I always wanted to give back to my community. At AudioActive I get to mix my passion for music and giving back to my community – I’ve got the perfect position that I could be in for my moral compass.

AudioActive’s work is deeply rooted in Brighton, now extending its reach to Crawley, Worthing, and Eastbourne as well as other regional towns. These are places that aren’t always shouted about in UK music conversations. Why do these towns matter, and what kind of talent is bubbling under the radar there?

AudioActive started in Brighton in 1999, predominantly running DJ sessions. Then it started growing, Adam came along and spent a lot of time keeping the lights on and really getting into the hip hop scene and culture, and that’s where mentors like Tom Hines and John Clarke all come in as well. It’s almost like they went round Brighton and mopped up the hip hop scene and all the young people and created AudioActive as it was then. What we’ve done since is listened to the young people in each area which is why sometimes some areas have different sessions to others. It’s that curiosity. Who are we to prevent that? So we opened it up and the young people created that without even realising it properly.

Eastbourne is quite a deprived area, so you’ve got children and young people there who don’t have access to facilities as much as other people and areas do, so it made sense for us to go and set up there, same for Worthing and same for Crawley. Space is really important and being able to give people that choice and opportunity to explore their creativity is really important. The Arts Council sees that as well, and they want us to go in there and achieve that. We’re hopefully doing that.

As far as musicians to look out for, I would say in Brighton and Hove, New Budd Beginnings, she is political, talented and articulate. She can make music and she’s unknowingly got this confidence that I just think, “wow, I wish I had that confidence at 18”, which I love. I think she’s definitely someone to watch from a wordsmith point of view.

Through youth-led musical intervention, you’re creating safe spaces where young people feel comfortable to express themselves freely. What does that kind of trust and care look like behind the scenes?

I think the first and most important thing is that everybody, from staff members to us as an organisation, is really clear about safeguarding. Safeguarding really is about keeping people safe, ultimately, but also supporting people to have a voice, and for people to have an understanding about contextual safeguarding, also known as community guardianship. It’s not just inter-familial harm, there’s community harm that comes to young people that sometimes parents, carers, teachers, we as adults, don’t really know about. And what our mentors get is a bird’s eye view into what’s going on. And sometimes they don’t need to do anything about it at all, they just pick up on trends and what’s going on and they support and guide the young people.

How does the independent label MXTR fit into the bigger picture of AudioActive’s work, and what kind of stories or sounds are coming out of it right now?

The point of MXTR was to support people to have a good independent label to work with, to support women particularly and to have less disparity in the music industry. It’s important for people to feel safe and not exploited when they first get into deals, and that’s essentially MXTR’s headline view. We’re very fortunate that we’ve got that happening at the moment because there are less and less indie labels, and it’s nice to be able to say to our emerging artists that this could be a possibility for you.

We’ve got Orla Rae and Dred who are both signed to MXTR. Both are doing incredibly well, and both are very different artists which is great, they’re both early in their careers and I foresee big things for both of them. We’ve also just done a collaboration with Maxwell D, the grime legend, and Josh Tarzi who was one of our young people originally and then he came and worked with us in the office. I’ve always said Josh is a young boss waiting to happen, he’s going to be a millionaire by the time he’s 21 (laughs), that man is going to do well.

The collaboration with BUILDHOLLYWOOD is bold and direct. What was the thinking behind putting AudioActive’s ethos across the city like that? What do you want people to take from the posters?

Going back to when I was at Ministry of Sound, we used to put up posters all around London, we even got them on Eastenders a couple of times, so you’d have Tiffany and Bianca going at it, and there’s a Smoove poster behind them (laughs). It’s kind of subliminal marketing, it’s a familiarity. So when the opportunity came to work with BUILDHOLLYWOOD, it was a no brainer, because it’s there in peoples’ faces to think about. We’re in your background, we’re part of your community, we are here for you to come and get involved. The reason that we put all our areas on the visuals is because people drive through Brighton, people are travelling all the time, and you can access us in three or four areas now. We’re really grateful.

You’ve seen young people walk through your doors with a mic and an idea and go on to do incredible things. Can you share a moment or artist that really captures the magic of what you do?

Lilly Wolfe all the way. The thing she’s always had is magic, and she’s had the magic to hold the crowd from day one. She’s great. JJM just takes any opportunity that’s in front of him, he grabs it and really goes for it, and you see that love with him going on with that. The same for Asiedu and all of them, they all come in and you see them light up. I think that’s the most important thing.

If you could fast-forward five years, what would the dream vision of AudioActive look like for you and the young people you support and champion?

At the moment we’re in 42 schools in Sussex, within five years I’d like to be in every single senior school in Sussex supporting children and young people through music making, mentoring, group work, and all of the good stuff. I would also love for us to have a stable building in Brighton, a stable building in Crawley, a stable building in Worthing, and a stable building in Eastbourne. The fact we’ve kept our Worthing hub going for three years and got staff members who love it and are passionate about it is amazing. They are the most welcoming, friendly and warm team members you can walk into and they represent AudioActive so well, and I’d love to have that in all those areas.