FAC Insights: Mic On Fire by Grace Holbrook
FAC Insights is a forum for us to showcase and share long form pieces looking at various parts of the music industry and the society that shapes it. Pieces take the form of videos, interviews, discussions, articles and more. This week we are delighted to share an article by Grace Holbrook, Head Of A&R at InHouse Records.
Mic On Fire
Starting in 2017, InHouse Records is a record label focusing on what’s strong and not what’s wrong. Supporting over 2500 prisoners and ex-prisoners both inside and outside of UK prisons through 1-2-1 workshops and magazine distribution - InHouse boasts a re-offending rate that is less than 1%.
We use the creativity of music to express feelings that are hard to communicate because we understand there is a paucity of dialogic skills. We also find that the process of creating is therapeutic in itself - creativity heals. Using music to create safe and enabling environments, we work to increase the networks of our learners by modelling dialogic skills that have been missing in their lives, presenting our learners with the opportunity to spiral into healthier networks upon release. We know that sensory engagement for those suffering from trauma is vital to exploring healthy ways of communication. Positively engaging learners in their present reality whilst making some sense of their past allows us to build on the future. We make sense of the past by focusing on what’s strong, not what’s wrong.
“I walked into InHouse, pretty much with arms folded, expecting to just turn away, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me. You felt so accepted, so validated. It’s given me a new passion for life outside of prison and a new passion for music.”- Jordan
Focusing on what’s strong, allows us to identify the raw dialogic skills the men naturally have fostered. Recognising that skills are neutral, and their application can be positive. We focus on our learners Communication, Accountability and Adaptability. We look to nurture these skills by role modelling as opposed to ‘teaching’ them. We can role model these skills through creating and maintaining the necessary tasks generated from our men’s curiosity and ambition. Wanting to know more about songwriting, production or management requires planning, goals, and the fulfilment of tasks. We provide the choice for our learners to explore multiple paths and the choice to decide the intensity of their learning.
Whilst the bigger picture in our culture has a belief system that views jobs and housing as the solution to the problem, as it’s so much easier to measure money and possession than life skills. We see relationship, choice, and creativity as critical to genuine rehabilitation.
InHouse Records carries out invaluable workshops inside of UK prisons that not only help our learners to gain an understanding of the music industry - but to reduce the reoffending rate AND reduce the rate of violence on the wings. Our workshops encourage our learners to explore one of the 3 main pathways: Musician, Producer or Manager. Each learner is guided on their pathways by InHouse Facilitators. Each learner starts off their journey by selecting 3 main goals and one milestone. These goals are reviewed each month to ensure that our learners are kept on track - and that we can achieve their goals whilst down in the workshop. We are open to accepting learners of ANY talent - from professionals to those who have never even explored music before.
Our musicians are invited to learn guitar, piano or drums OR to become a songwriter and write to beats that are created down in the workshop. Our musicians are given sessions developing their songwriting and lyric writing skillsets - including covering topics such as marketing and management to ensure that our musicians can also remain independent in themselves as artists. Our main goal for our artists is for them to leave the course with a CD of at least 1-2 songs recorded. This allows our artists to have a solid demo readily available for their release if they wish to pursue a career in music.
Our producers are invited to explore Logic Pro X down in the workshop. We take our producers on a journey through exploration in their craft - all the way to mixing and mastering. We encourage our producers to begin producing for other learners down in the workshop to not only improve their teamworking skills (essential for those interested in a career as a producer) but to also improve their work as a professional, ensuring that they can work to other’s needs. Our main goal for our producers is that they get to grips with the studio that is set up in the workshop. This will allow our learners to pursue a career within production or engineering upon release.
Lastly, our managers are invited to learn all about the music industry - from music publishing to music management. Although we encourage our learners to focus on one particular area of the industry, we are happy to allow them to explore all avenues in order to make their decision. We encourage our managers to work with our artists and producers whilst down in the workshops in order to begin networking with new people.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we were unable to operate in the majority of HMP establishments leaving our learners with no creative learning materials. Our founder (Judah) and everyone at InHouse realised the importance of keeping our learners motivated with learning packs and information that they currently do not have access to. Through the design of Hannah Lee and Judah Armani and the help of everyone at InHouse we created a music magazine, AUX. AUX covers a variety of different topics to allow learners to continue exploring the industry and the different careers involved whilst also covering topics such as songwriting, production and music management for those who are eager to learn or expand their knowledge in these areas.
Although AUX was able to provide a general overview of the industry and help to inform and educate our learners on the topics covered - we were keen to provide something more substantial that learners can benefit from by achieving either an Arts Award or an Industry Award. The Arts Award for those under 25 allows our learners to achieve a qualification, where-as our Industry Award for those over 25 allows our learners to receive accreditation from EY, Sony and Universal Records. Although we had the awards in place we needed a learning platform that could help guide our learners through this process; that’s when we created Lucky 13. Lucky 13 consists of 13 cards that provide our learners with a short burst of information followed by a task for each learner to complete. Each card follows a different topic; music business, guitar, songwriting themes, songwriting tips, piano, rhyme, lyric, genres and management. Our learners can also become inspired from our guest writers Lady Unchained and Carl who explore poetry and what life is really like after prison. The Lucky 13 series also gives our learners inside of prison the opportunity to share their work to those in other establishments AND those outside of prison. By sending in their work to our FREEPOST address, they will then be featured on the 13th card ‘Spotlight’ which highlights our learners work.
Upon release our learners are invited to continue their InHouse journey through studio time and continued 1-2-1 support with our mentors.
Outside of prison, the main objective of InHouse is to create a safe and enabling environment that would allow our guys to continue receiving support and encouragement in the arts upon release. That’s where myself (Grace) and my colleague (Carl) come in.
InHouse Records has come a long way since starting in 2017 - making huge growth through 2019 - 2021 and it doesn’t stop there! We are continuously looking for ways to expand and develop as a label and want this to happen with the help of our graduates. 2022 is looking to be a very positive and inspiring year for InHouse Records with festival slots, regular shows and plans to expand at the very top of our list. As long as the music is in time and inspirational it’s InHouse and will be released. We cannot guarantee success, but we can guarantee that having a more professional approach, wider contacts, and enhanced demos, will greatly increase the chances of success.
By Grace Holbrook, Head Of A&R at InHouse Records, the label that’s #dangerouslypositive