This interview is part of an ongoing series profiling the members driving The Ivors Academy’s Councils – a unique part of our structure that puts creators at the heart of the organisation. These conversations offer insight into the voices shaping our work and championing your interests across the music industry.
Aisling Brouwer is an award-winning composer and Media Council member. In this interview, she talks career-building, creative confidence and why inclusion matters more than ever. Aisling’s music spans film, television and immersive sound design, with credits including The Buccaneers, White Riot and campaigns for the UN and Nike. As one half of AVAWAVES – her cinematic duo with Anna Phoebe – she also releases artist projects on One Little Independent Records.
A passionate advocate for representation, Aisling sits on the board of the Alliance for Women Film Composers and uses her platform to amplify underrepresented voices across Europe. In this interview, she reflects on early opportunities, what keeps her inspired, and the importance of community in shaping a fairer industry.
What would you say to someone considering joining The Ivors Academy?
I would say: JOIN! Being part of a community is important on so many levels, but especially in the creative industries. Having a sounding board for concerns and a platform to debate and tackle current issues facing music professionals is essential when it comes to creating a sustainable ecosystem for the arts.
I think for most of us, the aim is to create longevity and creatively rich careers and I strongly believe that we all have a duty to contribute to positive change where we have the opportunity to do so. The Ivors enables you to be an active participant in sculpting the landscapes of our industry but also provides endless sources of inspiration from other artists and writers. For me, it feeds a curiosity to know what is being made in the world around us and to recognise what is having a cultural impact.
How did you land your first big opportunity in the music industry?
Funnily enough it was through Dru [Masters], who has known me since I was a fresh-faced and overeager graduate emailing film and TV composers incessantly for work opportunities, no doubt quite annoying in hindsight. Having grown up in Amsterdam I knew from a really young age that I wanted to be a film composer and was always finding ways to collaborate with anyone who would let me write a song or soundtrack for just about anything. There wasn't much visibility around composers at that time in The Netherlands, certainly not for women, nor was it really deemed much of a “real career”, so I moved to the UK at 18 to study film and music with a dream of one day combining the two into my dream job.
Dru was one of the few composers who didn't send my emails straight to junk and gave me an opportunity to work on some of his projects so that I could build up the credits and experience to eventually go it alone.
My first feature film came off the back of a Women in Film and TV gathering (community...!) where I met director Rubika Shah long before either of us were doing features and the seeds were planted for a creative partnership that continues to this day.
There are a few moments like these but then also a ton of smaller, seemingly insignificant building blocks that were part of a long and slow build. Nothing happened overnight and I'm still building.
What’s the best career advice you’ve received?
It's hard to single out one but aside from the more general “don't give up and keep going” I think being reminded that you need to go outside and meet people for anyone to know about what you're doing is a big one. You can be the best-trained, most musically gifted composer or performer in the world but at the end of the day this is a business founded on collaboration, and you need to meet your collaborators in the flesh.
Another big one is to always step outside of your comfort zone and stay curious - whether it's throwing yourself into the deep end with a new project or commission in an entirely different genre or learning a new skill or instrument, I think the beauty of this job is that you can keep reinventing the parameters of your creativity to keep it feeling fresh and exciting. I'm constantly inspired by other creatives around me.
What’s a recent project you’re particularly proud of?
Season 2 of The Buccaneers is out now — we scored this as AVAWAVES (with fellow Media Council member Anna Phoebe) and are so proud to be a part of this show! This one is special because we get to do our AVAWAVES artist sound for a drama series rather than following a brief, so it feels like such a merging of worlds and the team on it is exceptional.
The soundtrack album features artists like Holly Humberstone, Emily Kokal, Madi Diaz, Empress Of and Suki Waterhouse alongside our AVAWAVES score and we're honoured to be surrounded by such talent. Another project I'm proud of is Rubika Shah's latest film The Mad Dog of Europe, which I've just finished scoring and will be hitting festivals later this year.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
There's definitely more than one... safeguarding our rights and royalties is top of the list always since we have already been stripped of so many sources of income over the years, and the world seems to be ever-evolving in ways that threaten the work of creators from every angle.
I'm also very aware of how much creative environments can differ across borders and would love to see some of the positive changes spread to neighbouring countries i.e. continental Europe, where there is still a severe lack of diversity and inclusion in many sectors of the industry.
As a board member of the Alliance for Women Film Composers one of my aims is to try and connect more women and underrepresented voices across The Netherlands and Europe in a way that supports and encourages emerging talent to pursue a career in music in the first place.
Beyond composing I'd love to see more diversity in 'behind the scenes' music tech roles as well: live sound recordists, sound designers, mixing and mastering engineers, producers etc. The list goes on!
