Drop The Mic! Confirmed For Another Year With New Partnership, Supporters And A Fresh Approach
Starting 17th September, Southend-on-sea – The Song School has secured major new funding and partnerships to expand Drop the Mic!, Southend's youth-led open mic initiative, for another year starting September 2025.
Drop the Mic! is Southend’s youth open mic, for young musicians and creatives to perform, host and/or support with technical skills such as live sound, multimedia and design. The event is steered by its own youth forum, made up of young musicians, passionate about industry and the community Drop the Mic! has created around them. Over the last couple of years, c300 people have benefited from the initiative.
Originally supported by Southend’s Community Investment Board, The Song School are thrilled to announce they have secured Arts Council support via their grassroots Music stream, with plans to support local venues and music initiatives, plus routes to industry for young musicians. In addition, c2c Railway are supporting both with sponsorship and developing additional opportunities through the programme.
On their involvement in the initiative, Rob Mullen, Managing Director of c2c Railway, says: “Southend has a rich musical history and I am delighted that we at c2c are supporting The Song School through its ‘Drop the Mic!’ programme. Louisa and the team at The Song School are some of our closest community partners and we have had the pleasure of working with them on various projects in the last few years.
“As a community railway, we are always looking for ways to support local education programmes and this is another example of us doing just that.”
Drop the Mic! originated at Leigh Folk Festival in 2023 and was back there this year, hosting the youth stage. This is once again planned for 2026,
USP College is joining as a new project partner, planning to offer work experience opportunities within the project for their students, across creative subjects.
In October there will be a special Southend Jazz Festival edition of the event, with the return of the feature ‘Drop the Question’; a round table style discussion, led by an established artist.
The initiative is also supported by the Greater Essex Music Hub, who will be supporting an awareness campaign in Schools and supporting the development of a new junior event, planned for next Spring.
On the development of the programme, Song School Founder and Director, Louisa Strachan, says; “There’s never been a more important time to find new ways to support grassroots music in Southend - we have a huge scene here - particularly amongst our youth. The development of Drop the Mic! underpins the direction of all our programmes at The Song School - putting community, youth voice and connection to industry, at the core of everything we do”.
Drop the Mic! Is free to attend for all young people from Southend and the surrounding areas. Find all the details, including dates, location and how to register to take part in the open mic, here -