'We deserve to be heard in the music industry'

"We deserve to be heard in the industry and we should be deserving of having the chance to put our handprint on the history of music," says Iquao Aluko.

The 18-year-old vocal artistry student from west London is one of many young people at Access Creative College in Tower Hamlets working towards a career in the creative industries.

The college hopes to help introduce young people from deprived backgrounds to jobs that have been dominated by their middle-class peers.

Iquao, who is due to perform at Wireless Festival in Finsbury Park on Saturday, says people from working class backgrounds "have amazing stories to tell".

She added: "Music, it stems from who we are as people. Music is made to tell stories.

"We, the people that don't come from maybe the best backgrounds, we've got amazing stories to tell.

"It's in those sort of communities, or in working class places, that we manage to create this amount of talent - it's like we get it through the hard work we put in.

"For us that are so passionate and devoted to that art, we deserve to be heard in the industry.

"We should be deserving of having the chance to put our handprint on the history of music."

She said it was through the college, which has connections to Wireless music festival, that she secured her performance slot.

Access Creative College, which opened its Whitechapel campus in September 2023, said more than 50% of its students were from ethnic minorities.

According to the British Sociological Association, people who grew up in professional families are four times more likely, to be in creative work than those who did not.

This research was echoed by The Sutton Trust which also found that top selling musicians were six times more likely than the public to have attended private schools.

Leoni Ryan, an 18-year-old media student at the college, said it was valuable to be surrounded by a creative community.

"You can make friends and in the future you can collaborate with each other," she said. "I think that's really special."

Nathan Loughran, director of the London campus, said the college, which is situated in one of the most deprived boroughs in London, welcomes students from "all over the place".

"What we offer here is a very unique creative education experience," he said. "The new facility is is not like a traditional school or college. It's very much based on industry."

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