THE legacy of an Oxford folk musician who inspired hundreds of young women will be celebrated at the opening of a new recording studio.

Kate Garrett, who died of cancer in May 2009 aged 37, had spent eight years working on the Young Women’s Band Project at the Ark T Centre in Beauchamp Lane, Cowley, giving teenagers the chance to rehearse, record and perform their own music.

Following a number of fundraising events in her memory, a new, larger refurbished music studio will open tonight at the centre.

Centre director James Grote said: “It feels like and is a professional studio now, whereas before that it looked quite good but it didn’t really do the business and wasn’t a great sound.”

Since the Ark T Youth Music Project, of which the women’s band scheme was a part, launched in 1999, more than 1,000 young people aged 11 to 19 have been involved.

The studio has now doubled in size, with soundproof windows and acoustic treatment, along with new equipment.

The work cost about £8,000, which included a £5,000 grant from Oxfordshire County Council’s Chillout Fund, plus money raised at a concert in Ms Garrett’s memory.

A celebratory concert will be held there tonight starting at 7.30pm, featuring a line-up including some of the people who have received help and training at the centre.

Ms Garrett’s husband, cellist Barney Morse-Brown, will be among those performing.

He admitted he would have mixed emotions, but said: “I am very pleased that something positive is happening from the work that she did at the Ark T Centre. What she did there was pretty amazing.”

Ark T Youth Music project manager Henrietta Gill said: “Of the young people who have seen the new studio, the feedback I’m getting is that although it looks really nice, actually they are blown away by the sound.

“They really have been incredibly excited about this.”

Young people wanting to use the studio should contact Zahra Tehrani on 07588 456128.