Spark the Noise was founded as Girls Rock London in 2015 by a collective of women musicians, social workers and educators who wanted to challenge the intersecting injustices they experienced in the music industry and society.
We are members of the Girls Rock Camp Alliance, an international network of youth-centred arts and social justice organisations.
2015
Spark the Noise was founded as Girls Rock London in 2015 by a collective of women musicians, social workers and educators who wanted to challenge the intersecting injustices they experienced in the music industry and society.
Since then, we have supported over 2000 girls, women, trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people to build their confidence and self-esteem, learn new skills and become part of a growing community of change-makers.
We do this through long and short-format music programmes, workshops and events in both the UK and internationally, targeted at complete beginners through to those wanting to take the next steps in their careers.
As well as supporting musical skill development, our programmes always include workshops and activities focused on building confidence and self-esteem, as well as nurturing participants’ skills in respectful, inclusive, trauma-informed community-building.
Our organisation and projects are led by and for girls, women, trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people; active role-modelling is a core part of our ethos and method.
2018
We then won Nesta’s New Radicals award in 2018
2022
Our work has been cited as exemplary in proactively addressing gender injustices in music education and the industry, in national policies and reports including the Government’s National Plan for Music Education in 2022.
2023
In 2023, the iconic Berlin visual artist Thierry Noir donated the proceeds of a work auctioned at Christie’s to support the sustainability and development of our work, as part of his exhibition Thierry Noir: Techno, an immersive music-inspired installation he delivered in partnership with Christie’s and iconic London music venue, Fabric.
2023
In 2023, the iconic Berlin visual artist Thierry Noir donated the proceeds of a work auctioned at Christie’s to support the sustainability and development of our work, as part of his exhibition Thierry Noir: Techno, an immersive music-inspired installation he delivered in partnership with Christie’s and iconic London music venue, Fabric.
23/24
In 2023 we began the process of changing our name, to ensure it better reflected the genders, musical genres and geography of the people we work with, which exist far beyond ‘girls’, ‘rock’ and ‘London’. We were then awarded the Women and Equalities Committee’s Misogyny in Music inquiry presented to the House of Commons in 2023/24, as well as being shortlisted for Youth Music’s Outstanding Project award in 2024.
2025
After 18 months of community workshops, meetings and testing, we agreed on Spark the Noise, which we’re excited to roll out in our tenth anniversary year, 2025.