When Carla Marie Williams MBE won the Campaigner honour at the Music Week Women In Music Awards in 2021 for her inspiring work with Girls I Rate, she ended her interview by looking ahead to where she wanted to go in the next five years.
"I would really like to be able to support women putting out music properly," she told Music Week's Adenike Adenitire. "And really help artist development."
True to her word, Girls I Rate – the platform founded by the Grammy-nominated songwriter – has just conducted its Future Hitmaker and Safe Space Residency campaigns. With support from PRS Foundation and Pirate Studios, the initiative included both a nationwide competition and a groundbreaking Safe Space Residency designed to support and elevate emerging women creatives.
Hosted by Williams – who has penned hits for the likes of Beyoncé, Britney Spears and Girls Aloud – the initiative brought together over 200 women artists from across the UK. The Future Hitmaker competition invited young women aged 16–35 to submit their work — from all genres, backgrounds, and regions across the UK and received over 200 submissions from a diverse wave of untapped talent, spanning songwriters, lyricists, and producers.
As part of the offering, PRS Foundation bursaries were subsequently awarded to winners to “support their development and access to further creative opportunities.”
The Future Hitmaker Residency also selected 15 emerging artists to attend the Safe Space Residency, a “transformative three-day camp” where emerging songwriters and producers collaborated under the guidance of Carla Marie Williams. Featured creatives included Lost Girl, Wohdee, Sunset, as well as producers, musicians, songwriters and artists who created "industry-ready" tracks in just one day.
We’ve created the blueprint. Now we need the industry to invest. If we’re serious about change, we need more than praise — we need resources, funding, and commitment
Carla Marie Williams MBE
Pirate Studios also joined the movement, pledging free studio time over the next 12 months to support women’s creativity across the UK: “[We] are proud to support the Girls I Rate FHM Safe Space programme — providing young women with access to creative spaces where they can build skills, feel safe, and be heard. Together, we're creating room for change, collaboration, and a more inclusive future in music.”
Girls I Rate have, however, issued a call to action in their push for more support in securing sustainable funding and brand sponsorship, citing worrying figures concerning “industry investment into initiatives that centre women’s development and safety” in music. Girls I Rate cited that "women make up less than 20% of PRS For Music members", that "only 2.8% of music producers are women" and that "less than 20% of PPL registrations are women".
Speaking about the initiative, Williams said: “We’ve created the blueprint. Now we need the industry to invest. If we’re serious about change, we need more than praise — we need resources, funding, and commitment.”
Girls I Rate is continuing to call on industry stakeholders to join the movement and “help create a safer, more equal industry — one where women creatives can grow, collaborate, and succeed without compromise.”
Williams curates the Mentor Me section of each issue of Music Week, you can read the latest spotlight here.
Photo: Antonio Lewis TVOX LTD
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