The beginning of my Anthem journey – Gabriel Bernal
Anthem and the Youth Forum was an opportunity I approached with no hesitation. Being a Music Business university student as well as an electronic music producer, music has been the cornerstone of my life; sharing that passion and enthusiasm with like-minded people to inspire the youth in Wales was something I could not miss. Now, having met the rest of the team, I am confident in our drive and open-mindedness to create a long-lasting movement.
Anthem’s desire to have an impact will help me reach my core goals in the vision I have for music. This is my vision:
Validate – Unfortunately, music is generally not perceived as a genuine and sensible career path for young individuals and this has been further emphasised by the government’s recent ‘Retrain’ scheme for the creative industries during the pandemic. This needs to change. I want to validate music as both a valuable creative output and also a professional avenue. Through my university course, I have learnt there are so many different roles in the music industry and I want to shine a light on them to encourage individuals to chase their music dreams.
Teach – Teaching and spreading knowledge is also an essential vision of mine. Making the youth aware of the depth of music not just in creativity but as an industry, will hopefully help them flourish in their own journeys. Also, learning music production was an immensely daunting task for me. Although I loved every second of it, I can imagine this process being really overwhelming, so I would love to ease that process for the individuals striving to explore their creativity through the non-conventional avenue of music production.
Inspire – Through Anthem,I also hope to inspire the youth to never stop growing as individuals and to motivate them to continue the message of music, passion and growth. The youth is our future, and if we can fuel their journeys, then they will fuel the journeys of everyone else around them, creating communities a part of a larger movement.
Learn – And of course, I can’t wait to learn from the amazing communities and individuals that I will meet along the way. Seeing so many people’s talents, passions and experiences will further open my eyes to the beauty of music and it will allow me to grow stronger as a person.
Therefore, I believe Anthem is that opportunity to have a lasting impact on the lives of many young people around Wales. We can positively change the way music is perceived by breaking the barriers that hold music back. This is why I am so incredibly excited to be involved in the upcoming projects that are the beginning of the Anthem journey.
- Gabriel Bernal