After seeing Rory’s presentation on Political Activism in Community Music, Erika approached Rory to discuss his research and to compare ideas on community development, participatory research, and community music facilitation. That evening, they ended up at a Finnish dive bar, talking well into the night, and their conversations continued long after the conference had come to an end.

Maintaining their exchange past that conference in Finland, visits to the UK and Belgium culminated with Erika moving to Leeds to continue her community music work in conjunction with Rory. Both believing in the value of mobilising community’s assets for community music, research, and social change, they decided to build an organisation that would embody their values and make possible the kind of work they had been imagining together. This is how Gathering Futures was born.