East Kent Music Network


What?

The East Kent Music Network is a new project connecting musical organisers from across East Kent. Promoters, event producers, venue owners, label owners, publicists and others involved in the region’s musical ecosystem will meet for evenings of informal networking, presentations and live music.

Why?

  • To find out what else is going on: East Kent doesn’t have a big city so cultural activity sometimes happens in ‘bubbles’ that operate independently

  • Connecting with other music organisers can provide valuable moral support: what we do can involve sustained periods of lone-working with low financial security or recognition

  • Sharing ideas and resources can help in many ways: for example, 10 local promoters recently collaborated on a festival called You Are Here, sharing social media publicity, connecting their audiences and collaborating on a successful funding bid

  • Each event will spotlight a particular promoter/venue/project, providing a real-life example of what local successes and challenges look like

How?

All the events are free. If you’d like to come please RSVP to me at sam@freerangecanterbury.org.

When?

This is the first of four events that will take place between November 2026 to August 2027 in different venues across East Kent. Venues and dates will be confirmed a few months before each event.

Who?

We’re looking for hosts and contributors for future events: if you’d like to have this event at your venue, or you’d like to share your experience of working in music in East Kent, please email sam@freerangecanterbury.org.


I can’t make this one but I’m interested in future events

There will be three more of these events between now and August 2027. If you’d like to be kept informed, let me know via email. I’ll share the dates and venues as they are confirmed.

Whether you can make it or not, please let other people know about these events. By doing this you’ll be helping to make our regional music scene stronger and more connected.

This event is organised by Free Range supported using public funding by Arts Council England.


Sam Bailey

Artistic director of Free Range
freerangecanterbury.org