As RiteTrax approaches its 11th anniversary, founder Mike Thompson is reflecting on the organisation’s journey from an idea developed in prison to a Sheffield social enterprise supporting young people through music.
Thompson, originally from Greater Manchester, moved to Sheffield at 19 to study history. Having played in bands since the age of 13, he became involved in organising house parties, gigs and club nights while at university.
In his third year, Thompson was arrested for selling drugs and spent just over a year in prison. It was during this time that the idea for RiteTrax began to take shape.
“I was going to come out unemployed, and Adam was unemployed,” he says, referring to co-founder Adam, who he had previously played in a band with. Both were passionate about music but did not want to work in a typical 9-to-5 job.
While in prison, Thompson met Jackie Hewitt-Main, who ran The Cascade Foundation, an organisation supporting prisoners with learning difficulties and acquired brain injuries. Having a degree himself, Thompson began helping Hewitt-Main teach prisoners, an experience which he says was a major inspiration for his later community work.
He also completed a business course while in open prison, using the time to develop Ritetrax as a hypothetical project. After returning home in 2015, Thompson and Adam incorporated the company on September 26th of that year.
Their first event followed at Yellow Arch Studios in October 2015, raising around £1,500 through people supporting Thompson’s vision. In the early years, much of the work was unpaid.
By 2017, RiteTrax had established a base in Castlegate through arts development charity CADS. The building was initially intended simply as a place to work from, but its size meant it could also become a music venue.
“We didn’t really want a music venue,” Thompson says. “We just kind of wanted a place to work from, and it just happens to be big enough to become a music venue.”
The organisation gradually developed its licence and facilities, before closing for around 18 months to redevelop the space. It was ready to reopen just as the COVID-19 lockdown began. RiteTrax eventually reopened with a full licence in summer 2021.
Today, Thompson describes his role as “a bit of everything”, from fundraising and administration to managing staff, while RiteTrax runs sessions with young people and adults and operates its venue and bar.
Music remains central to the organisation’s work, including its involvement in the annual Castlegate Festival. The festival’s music programme has grown since its beginnings in 2018, when an outdoor event was organised on the street.
This year, the festival will focus on local music across Castlegate’s venues. At Plot 22, the evening will begin with a showcase of young people who have worked with the organisation, followed by an open-decks session for local DJs and an afterparty featuring DJs who have previously taken part.
Thompson says the organisation particularly wants to encourage more women and beginners to apply for its open decks opportunities, with the organisation aiming to create line-ups where people can see themselves represented.
The festival will also be free to attend, something Thompson sees as important to making it accessible and allowing people to move between venues.
Looking ahead, Thompson says he would like to see greater consistency in funding, allowing the festival to develop rather than having significantly different budgets each year.
He also hopes the development of the Castlegate area will eventually provide a central space for the festival and allow local arts and music organisations to collaborate more closely.
“Once everywhere’s established and the dust from all the works kind of settled, we can all figure out how we’re going to work together and make it work a bit better,” he says.
For Thompson, the longer-term ambition is for Castlegate to develop a wider calendar of events, particularly during the spring and summer.
“We’re hoping that we’ll be here for a long time,” he says, “and the festival can just carry on growing each year.”
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