by Author Jamming Station

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A home for young people to meet, write, gig and be creative

Over the past ten years, young people of Totnes have had a range of different venues to come together and make music with Jamming Station. From hired community spaces and rented rooms, the staff have tirelessly packed up and down and moved all around, to facilitate this much needed space for young musicians. A decade on, Jamming Station has a home… The Mill!

 

Our home is filled with character, the exposed beams and high ceilings offer wonderful acoustics. The building has a fully functional water mill and a lovely garden area. 

Set out over three floors, we have a fully functional kitchen and bar area which we are looking forward to opening for our events and socials. Located in the heart of Totnes, an increasing number of young people are getting involved just from seeing what’s on as they pass. As a community project, we love that we can offer the space to the wider community to hire for events, parties, and rehearsals. 

 

For the team at Jamming Station, this space is so much more than a beautiful building. After years of moving from one spot to the other, we can finally feel rooted and bring our ideas to life. To create a space and set up that is fully functional for facilitating sessions helps the sessions to flow without technical difficulties; meaning we can spend more time focusing on the young people. The additional space allows the young people to work independently or in smaller bands within a session. As bands develop, they can book the space for rehearsals and performances. We have created a homely atmosphere and living room area where young people can socialise, and the team can hold meetings. We have been able to expand the project to a wider age group and offer more workshops around the music industry, skills and employability. 

 

Thankfully, in perfect time, Youth Music’s Recharge Fund came our way to support this process. We have grown in so many ways. We have:

  • Hosted 16 SoundArt summer HAF workshops free to children who receive free school meals
  • Given 20 rehearsal slots space for young bands and adults bands 
  • Held over 30 weekly Band workshops
  • 15 free employability workshops for 16- 30 yrs old
  • Hire agreements with over 10 partner organisations
  • Made the building safer with catches on the windows and wooden railings on the stairway where young people would love to climb up. (See vid of the stairway and living room)
  • Opened out the performance area to enable more people to watch young performers
  • Built new storage spaces for our valuable equipment
  • Made it official by attaching a Jamming Station sign to the outside of the building!
  • Been filmed for ITV (see video link)
  • Delivered team training sessions in wellbeing and safety
  • Strengthened our local partnerships to work more collaboratively within the space
  • Increased from 40-70 participants each week
  • Expanded our reach to 4-30 yrs
  • Expanded our reach to over 20 young people who are from challenging circumstances
  • Hired our building out to over 10 new people and businesses
  • Received 5 Mentoring sessions with The Music Works in Gloucesershire to develop…
  • Which has developed our business plan, systems, protocols and confidence as Management
  • Grown a small sustainable income which we put back in to grow the organisation
  • Created a Facebook page especially for the The Mill, to appeal to the wider community https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084503932388 

 

This fund spreads the support out over three years so what we grow now is for the future of the organisation, and the community.. With firm foundations, Jamming Station is evolving, and we are proud to share this journey with you!