We had the privilege to award the latest Keychange Inspiration Award at Ireland Music Week to SelfMade. Founded by artist and music enthusiast, Joanna Bain, and Julie Hawk (musician and label co-founder HAVVK / Veta Records), SelfMade is a collective of Irish musicians and creatives working in the music industry - bringing together artists to empower each other with practical knowledge and skills to build a music project.

SelfMade is a music organisation that aims to bring artists together through events and discussion. Their goal is to help artists to empower each other with the practical knowledge and skills to build a music project. 

There are a million resources and guidelines out there about the music industry. But putting these into practice can be a whole different story. SelfMade’s events put artists in the spotlight to help us learn from each other; to simply ask, ‘how did you do that?’, and to offer practical insights into how the music industry works. We have a strong focus on addressing inequality within the music industry, with a particular focus on amplifying female and non-binary artists. SelfMade is an inclusive space to learn, skill-share, connect and collaborate with your creative community. 

SelfMade is run by musician and Veta Records co-founder, Julie Hough, and visual artist and music enthusiast, Joanna Bain. The pair met over a shared love of music and community in 2017, and have been running panels and events ever since. 

"We are so happy to have our work at SelfMade recognised by Keychange and Ireland Music Week. SelfMade was born out of a series of conversations about how the music industry works and particularly the unique challenges that women and non-binary face at every stage of developing a music career. We felt a huge sense that these conversations were happening all over Ireland - but often in a vacuum - and we wanted to create a safe and productive space to see how we can learn from each others' experience and feel less isolated; to celebrate the amazing work that goes on behind the scenes. Since starting SelfMade, we’ve seen first-hand, the amazing learnings that can happen when we give artists a platform to be vulnerable and share. We have had such an amazing response from the Irish music community and from the team at Ireland Music Week, and we have also be huge admirers of the work at Keychange for years now. Thank you all for helping us to continue to empower artists and promote equality in music in Ireland."

- Joanna Bain & Julie Hawk (SelfMade)

Awarded at: Ireland Music Week 2023

Expertise: Activist, Collective

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