Shifting the balance: Saffron is a safe space for women and non-binary artists to create and collaborate

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Accessible by a winding country road with no pavement, Hawkwood CFT elicits a feeling of seclusion from the outside world. This feigned isolation offers a much-welcomed respite to the eclectic mix of creatives it hosts year after year, who head to Stroud, a sleepy market town in Gloucestershire, to revel in the countryside air and indulge in a sacred few days where the arduous tasks of daily life – namely cooking – are removed. It’s within this idyllic setting that a small cohort of artists are free to create and collaborate with music and community as their only priorities.

Saffron, a non-profit organisation aiming to advance gender equality in the music tech sector, is here to host a five-day creative retreat as part of its artist development programme. Funded by viagogo, one of Saffron’s supporting partners, the retreat sees five musicians live and work together closely while gaining tangible industry advice from a network of mentors. On the day of NME’s visit, the artists gather on a selection of mismatched wooden chairs, donning a varied mix of styles (from UGG slippers to leather trench coats) for an advice session with a label A&R.

In line with the ethos of the retreat, Saffron founder Laura Lewis-Paul’s 16-month-old daughter occasionally interrupts to offer around her half-eaten apple or to politely join in the debate on navigating social media as an artist with nonsensical toddler babble. Beside her, Angelica Allen, one of the artists on the programme, carefully types notes into her MacBook while balancing on a pregnancy ball – she later tells NME that her due date was two days prior.

This environment, where femininity and motherhood are a help and not a hindrance to creating music, is the epitome of all Saffron stands for. Founded by Lewis-Paul in 2015, Saffron seeks to address the extreme gender inequality in music tech, a sector made up of less than 5 per cent women, non-binary or trans people. Within that harrowing figure, less than 1 per cent are people of colour – and it’s a number that dwindles further each year.

While TikTok has been touted as a vital tool in increasing accessibility in the music industry, it seems minimal progress is actually being made in gender equality. No female or non-binary engineers were credited on the platform’s most streamed tracks of 2022, and it’s a trend that exists elsewhere in digital music consumption, with platforms like YouTube and Spotify reporting similar stats.

Those from minority genders and global majority communities that do find a way into the industry then often face significant obstacles. According to the Fix The Mix report, 34 per cent of women, 42 per cent of trans individuals, and 43 per cent of nonbinary people working in music have experienced harassment or abuse at work, while Black Lives in Music found that 63 per cent of Black music creators have experienced racism. These challenges jeopardise the opportunity for entire communities to be heard within an industry that has long relied on their talent – much of which has defined music and cultural movements throughout history.

“When these artists are going to studios, they’re often in a place where they’re faced with a lot of men, and actually, are they able to be in their most fully creative space to make the music that they want if they’re feeling intimidated or feeling vulnerable?,” says Lewis-Paul. “It’s the same with music production – if you’ve got your music to a certain point and you then have to pass that over to someone that maybe isn’t able to interpret that in a way that you want them to. That’s when we set up our sound engineering, music production and DJ courses, to give the tools, the skills and the language to women, non-binary and trans people to have ownership of their creative and musical journeys.”

For the past five days, Saffron has taken over the grounds’ old stables – a location they admit has been a blessing in muffling the noise of their musical experimentations (crucial, given others at Hawkwood are on silent retreats). The previous night, which left the group admittedly weary (and slightly hungover), saw them create a dub set-up where they all learnt to use different production machines. “It was amazing,” says Pops Roberts – Programmer and Guest Artist at the retreat. “It was such a very different way of approaching making music, and I think seeing everyone who comes from such different disciplines enjoy it within their own means was magic to watch,” she says.

NME joins the musicians on the last day of a full schedule. Previous days saw practical workshops, such as a creative sampling programme where the artists scoured for sounds in the surrounding nature and then layered them to mimic instruments. There have also been talks about writing music for TV and film, which offered advice on how to navigate commission briefs and production sessions that explored how to overcome hurdles and improve their workflow.

Throughout, community and togetherness have acted as a unifying theme. Workshopping music is placed with the same importance as sharing meals, resulting in a strong bond forged over only a few days. “It’s just incredible connecting these people and building these networks for ourselves,” says Roberts. “A lot of us have just been making music in our rooms on laptops and did not feel that there were other people who understood. It’s so powerful to know that we’re all going through similar things.”

On the final day, the group passes bowls of guacamole and tortilla chips across the dining table while reflecting on the intense five-day retreat. Kat Garoës-Hill, who creates music under the moniker GAROËSS tells NME it’s been a “safe space” to create. “It’s just been incredible, and I feel really motivated to start producing now,” she says. It’s a sentiment shared by Rebekah Dinnall, whose music is heavily influenced by soundsystem culture, reggae and dub. “That advocacy for Black women and non-binary people in the industry is so important,” she says. “Saffron has really given us the resources and the support that we need as emerging artists.”

But despite high moods following five days of immersion in creative practice, there’s an underlying knowledge among the group that opportunities like this are few and far between. While the BRITs saw women leading both in nominations and wins, full gender equality has yet to permeate the rest of the industry, and it’s only heightened during periods of economic downturns like this when organisations like Saffron face funding cuts.

It’s why initiatives like this depend on external support. PRS Foundation has funded the programme for the past six years, and this year, their artist development programme received support, including funding from viagogo, the ticketing marketplace that partners with organisations like Saffron to support emerging talent at the grassroots level across the live event industry.

The retreat, then, is a reminder of the great impact that comes from the tireless efforts of a handful of individuals and industry partners dedicated to the cause. Without these crucial opportunities, the industry will continue to exclude entire demographics, resulting in a tremendous amount of talent destined to be left unheard. Yet, as Lewis-Paul points out, there’s only so much that can be done at a grassroots level before the wider industry must step up. “We’ve got a beautiful community and a really diverse inclusive space here, but it’s the responsibility of the industry to make the change. They need to make that space.”

Saffron and viagogo extended the invitation to this retreat, giving NME the opportunity to see firsthand the game-changing work Saffron is doing to support the next generation of female and non-binary artists within the music industry.

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