Manny Ademolu

Manny was born in Lagos, Nigeria in 1992 and moved to the Uk when he was a child; his family settled in MK in 2006; his initial impression was of how peaceful it was. He attended St Pauls Roman Catholic school. Milton Keynes was the first place he felt like he fitted in. He talks about discovering the city’s music scene at places like The Pitz and The Crauford Arms. After he left school he began volunteering at The Buszy, helping to run outreach programmes, Open Mic sessions and nurturing young musicians, which also involved collaborating with the Youth Service at The Point. At The Point, he worked with musician and facilitator Chris Murphy, who helped him develop his skills as a facilitator; he collaborated on a project called Busking and Buszes which was aligned with the Milton Keynes International Festival. He talks about how important the Youth Services were, especially for young people who didn’t thrive in an academic setting. He studied psychology at university and now works at the Open University, but he finds full time employment limits his opportunities for creativity; on the other hand life as a freelancer is ver precarious.

He doesn’t feel that MK has changed a great deal, apart from new building and the loss of certain green spaces. He hopes that the creative scene will become more active, joined up and collaborative. He talks about the different Open mic sessions across MK, like MK 11 at The Buszy and Snow Bar at The Canon in Newport Pagnell, where he remembers feeling incredibly nervous when he first played the guitar in public; the support form the other musicians was incredible, and that spurred him on. He feels there should be an artist development programme in MK, with greater opportunities for emerging artists; other than the international festival there are few opportunities in the city. It can be a challenge that places in MK are quite disconnected and the lack of adequate public transport makes accessing different venues difficult.