An Ipswich musician is on a mission to empower girls through electronic music at her female-led workshops.
Loula Yorke and Emily Godden have created Atari Punk Girl workshops to empower girls through electronic music with an end performance set for Spill Festival later this month.
The workshops teach girls how to make their own synthesisers using skills such a soldering, as well as performance workshops and T-shirt making.
Loula explained the idea behind the workshops.
She said: “We’re inhabiting these roles as punks. We’re imagining we’re this band called the Atari Punk Girls, but we’re not using guitars – we’re using synthesisers.
“Punk music is something that was really good at getting women into music because for the first-time women were involved in the production of the music and the studio side of things,” she added.
Loula went on to say that these workshops provide a role model to girls and women and what they learn during their time can be used in their everyday lives.
“Even if a young person isn’t particularly into that activity right then, they might subconsciously take on board that a woman was leading that group," she said.
“I’m not particularly interested in people rushing off and getting careers as an engineer off the back of this, I’m more interested in them feeling confident in their daily lives and as women can stand up for themselves and share their ideas."
The workshops will lead up to a performance at St Clement's Church, but Loula explains this isn’t your average performance.
“We’ve got laser oscilloscope visuals, a massive quadrophonic sound system and a really nice light show which is redolent of rave music. We’re trying to get the spirit of 90s rave into Spill Festival.
"It’s going to be seriously avant-garde and it’s influenced by industrial music and noise music. So, you're not going to hear popular music in this show,” she added.
The Atari Punk Girls performance will take place on October 30.
If you would like to find out more about the Atari Punk workshops, see here. Tickets for the performance are free but must be booked in advance.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here