'More live than ever, The Bays play and compose on stage.' The Economist

Education UK Mexico is the annual educational fair organised by the British Council in Mexico. Over the last three years it has proved to be a very successful tool in promoting UK education, and it focuses its attention on young people interested in studying graduate and English courses in the UK. As part of the promotion of the fair, a programme of cultural activities was organised by the British Council’s arts section with the objective of showing the vitality and creativity of modern Britain.

For the fifth edition of the fair, the British Council presented a music event programme in collaboration with The Bays that included an educational workshop project. Given the fervent interest in club culture among young people in Mexico, we organised this event in order to bring young Mexicans closer to the UK and the Council’s educational activities. It was hoped that The Bay’s fusion of live and electronic music would project positive images of the UK´s creativity and cultural diversity.

The Bays worked with popular music students primarily drawn from the intake at Fermatta School of Music, but also with an open intake from CNA UNAM and other music institutions. They worked together for two days and then chose students to perform with them at their Concert at Centro Nacional de las Artes (CNA).

The project was a major success. Over 1700 people attended the concert at CNA, Mexico City. There were three audition sessions in order to choose musicians to take part in the concert. 70 Mexican music students participated and eight were chosen to perform at the concert playing live with The Bays. There was great interest from the musical sector around this event, a good press conference prior to event in Mexico City and a radio interview. The Bays performed a concert in Guadalajara alternating with the Mexican group Suzie 4. Over 700 young people attended the concert at Hard Rock Live in Guadalajara. The event attracted comprehensive media coverage and newspapers gave good reviews of the electronic music in the UK.