Changing Gear

Changing Gear is our professional development programme offering emerging women and gender-diverse music creators based in Yorkshire and the Humber commissions, equipment and support to develop exciting new works and access high-profile performance opportunities.

As a PRS Foundation Talent Development Network Partner supported by PPL, we are targeting those whose work has not yet been widely performed in a professional context, as well as composers of acoustic music who would like to gain skills for pursuing future work with electronics. We work with a diverse group of music creators whose work encompasses pop, urban, folk, sound art and experimental musics.

Each year we bring new partners on board across Yorkshire, opening up access to different facilities and equipment in different areas, and offering a unique creative opportunity for the selected music creators.

Year 1
In the first year (2024-25), three composers working across a range of genres – Helen Papaioannou, Cherry Seraph (Sophie Russell) and Artists’ Child (Bethany Wells) – were selected and commissioned to create new music inspired by the life and work of electronic music pioneer Daphne Oram, in celebration of her centenary in 2025. Our partners were the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford and the Oram Awards.

Composers produced new pieces of electronic music inspired by encounters with sound objects from NSMM’s collections, drawing themes and techniques in Oram’s work. Thanks to a partnership with the University of Huddersfield, they also had the opportunity to explore vintage sound equipment, such as analogue synths and effects units, to experiment with and incorporate into their musical palettes.

The new works were performed in March 2025 at the National Science and Media Museum, Bradford coinciding with the Bradford City of Culture 2025 programme, and then in May 2025 in partnership with The Oram Awards’ celebrations of Daphne Oram’s centenary, at Gut Level in Sheffield. The performances were also supported by outreach workshops: a drop-in session demonstrating tape loops in Bradford; a talk and demo by Tom Richards about the Mini-Oramics machine that he built from Daphne Oram’s unrealised designs in Sheffield, plus a bonus live looping workshop at Sheffield Food Festival.

Year 2
Changing Gear’s second year coincided with the Railway 200 celebrations, offering a chance to explore the sonic possibilities of trains and York’s status as a key railway city past and present, as well as to challenge the male-dominated histories and cultures around railways and spotlight some of the untold stories of the women who lived around and worked on them. Our programme partners were the University of York and the National Railway Museum.

Our three selected creators – Rosie Parsons, Diya Tailor and Rhiannon Kenny-McGrath – were given access to the NRM’s exhibits and archives, and in particular the wealth of material gathered by film recordist and railway enthusiast Peter Handford (1919-2007), with permission for sampling and reuse generously granted by his family. They also had access to the University of York music department’s state-of-the-art immersive sound studios – including a 20+ ambisonic loudspeaker array – offering them the time, space and technical support needed to take creative risks and develop skills.

The new works were performed in front of the impressive Royal Scot train in the NRM’s newly renovated Station Hall on 1 November 2025 and again in surround sound at the University of York as part of its concert series on 19 November 2025, supported by a train-themed sound collage outreach workshop delivered there by YSWN Associate Sophie Russell.

Year 3
For the third year of Changing Gear, our focus shifts to the creative opportunities offered by the landscapes, people and stories of the Peak District in the 75th anniversary year of its status as the UK’s first National Park. Our selected artists are Eleanor Hooper, Layla Legard and the duo Gilank, and we are partnering with No Bounds festival to present the first performances of the new music at an event in Sheffield on Saturday 10 October, with a second performance planned for Hathersage in the Peak District in November.

YSWN is a PRS Foundation Talent Development Network Partner supported by PPL.