Skip nav

Emerging music scene not dead in central London. Meet the female trio bringing it back to life.

What Does Not NOISE

One emerging music initiative helps partygoers and music lovers have a social impact - changing the world one party at a time.

• London culture agency and creative incubator, What Does Not (WDN) hopes to harness youth culture’s explosive energy as a force for urban regeneration through emerging music initiative What Does Not NOISE

• The emerging music initiative seeks to regenerate areas depleted of authentic culture, after extensive on-the-ground research with music communities

• Putting emerging music talent centre stage in Zone 1 – new NOISE initiative by the all-female team finds undiscovered talent from across London and invites them to showcase their skills and jam in front of audiences unfamiliar with such raw creativity

• NOISE events currently take place at the Lower Third in Soho, previously the 12 Bar Club, which helped catapult Adele and Jeff Buckley to fame, in the historic ‘Tin Pan Alley’, where Bowie and the Stones recorded

• WDN has plans to take NOISE to various other central London venues that are open to supporting this initiative

London, 25 May, 2023

Parties with purpose have been making the rounds, but do they change anything? One ambitious, all-female social enterprise is making sure the world takes note: “If you’re left feeling a little empty by the ‘work hard, play hard’ cycle, we’re saying, it’s possible for your average night out to move the dial on the status quo,” says founder of culture agency and creative incubator, What Does Not (WDN), Christine Charitonos. She's building a team of powerhouse women who are setting out to shake things up in hospitality, the creative industries and beyond.

WDN argues that music is the Trojan horse of systems change. Now that they’ve got their horse through the gates, they’re inviting lovers of new music to celebrate with them at their emerging music showcase meets curated jam night, What Does Not NOISE - next event this Friday May 26th.

Meanwhile, they’ll continue making inroads with policymakers and corporates to bridge the grassroots with the ‘grasstops’. But how does any of this have a social impact?

“When we started embedding ourselves with the underground hip hop culture, we immediately spotted a huge problem: none of the circuit was in central London. And so NOISE was born,” says Christine. “Music being pushed into the ends was the symptom of the same disease afflicting every city: gentrification kills culture,” she adds.

“For decades the answer to regenerating areas was seen as a top-down approach of large developments. Monoculture. We’re saying, building on the heritage of a place, music can be the metabolism of our city. And we can harness the explosive energy of youth culture to breathe new life into the heart of London,” adds WDN’s partnerships and innovation director, Mary Valiakas.

“It means changing what we value, how we appreciate what is considered good, and important. We think of ourselves as advanced, but the world we live in definitely isn’t it. We can do better, so people and place can all thrive,” says Mary.

What Does Not is aiming to amplify its impact through brand partnerships for the rest of 2023 and beyond, kicking things off with cool, historic workwear brand, M.C.Overalls. Spokesperson, Rohaan Sajnani, has been to several WDN events and is a big believer in their credo that your spending power can pack a punch.

The other heavyweight in the core WDN trio, is Tamara Mikaberidze, events & project director – who brings over a decade of producing events for Universal Pictures to the fold. “Sure, corporate events are great, and you have big budgets for big productions – but we’ve been doing polished production and high curation levels, on a shoestring budget – that’s what experience in the industry gets you.”

You can experience NOISE for yourself this Friday, May 26 at the Lower Third in Soho. But if you’re reading this too late, follow What Does Not on Instagram for updates on upcoming events. With a cross-genre, emerging music festival in the pipeline too.

ENDS

About What Does Not

What Does Not is a culture agency and creative incubator, combining the functions of an events company, prep school, community, and creative agency. It is an ecosystem of ecosystems for living a life with purpose, with genuine human connection at its core. They harness the power of humans to rewrite outdated narratives, and celebrate unorthodox thinking. They believe that cutting across all the silos and layers of society is the way to light the creative spark that’s dormant in everyone – humans and brands. Some brands they’ve worked with include Soho House, The Ministry and The Outernet.


More info
Phone: +44 7599706872
Web: www.whatdoesnot.com
IG: @whatdoesnot
Email: hey@whatdoesnot.com
Contact: Christine Charitonos
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k79pGer6clY&t=11s