by Author Carrie Corfe

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Rural-proofing: overcoming isolation through music-making

Youth Music invests in many projects working to overcome the challenges of rural isolation, to ensure that children and young people aren’t missing out on the chance to make music, wherever they live.

 

What is ‘rural isolation’?

The term encompasses negative feelings experienced by those living in a rural location. Rural isolation can lead to a whole range of challenges, from the emotional (loneliness, depression) to the practical (transport challenges, few employment opportunities, lack of support for specialist needs or interests). The Office of National Statistics describes settlements of less than 10,000 people as rural, with further classifications of sparse and less sparse populations covering the diversity of rural environments.

With the onset of the recession, the number of young people not in education, employment or training in rural areas has increased from 9.4% in 2007 to 12.9% in 2011 (see this Commission for Rural Communities report for more information) and this proportion is expected to grow with further reductions in public services. Youth Music is working to ensure that children and young people in rural areas are able to access to music-making to support their personal and social as well as musical development. A young person’s experience of living in a sparsely populated area can vary dramatically depending on their family’s socio-economic background. Social isolation can arise for many children and young people who are restricted by low household income, geographic distance and lack of transport options.

Major rural challenges

My colleague Jodie wrote about this subject in Up hill and down dale, an essay in Youth Music’s 2012-13 Impact Report. She highlighted the challenges of engaging children and young people in rural isolation found across ten projects funded in 2012-13.  These included:

  • Transport, educational, enrichment opportunities, employment, recreational activities and other public services are often lacking or severely limited
  • Recruitment of music leaders can be difficult due to small populations
  • Engaging the most disadvantaged children and young people is complex due to geographical range and lack of support services
  • There is often a lack of awareness by young people and their carers of services available to them
  • Weak broadband connections and bad mobile reception restricting communication
  • Lack of capacity within the organisation to sustain and grow projects
  • Lack of adequate workshop, rehearsal, performance and storage space

NYMAZ’s report Gone in the Air http://network.youthmusic.org.uk/learning/blogs/heidi-johnson/nymaz-launches-young-people-music-rural-isolation-report  and Momentum’s report on young people’s experience of living in Norfolk  also identifies these difficulties along with lack of business growth and development.

How Youth Music is tackling rural isolation At Youth Music, we are committed to rural-proofing through our funding programme. Children experiencing rural isolation continues to be the most frequest category of challenging circumstances reported by projects funded by Youth Music.  In 2011, 16% of all the projects funded involved children and young people who were rurally isolated. This rose to 18.1% in in 2012 and 22.4% in 2014.  Pockets of deprivation may exist within relatively affluent areas in the country so evidence of need can be masked by a high level  Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), so it might be useful to look at statistics at a neighbourhood level.

Our three grants programme funds (introduced in July last year) have been informed by the rural debate.Fund A has been introduced to respond to the need for smaller scale, local partnership projects which offer the potential of longevity - often characteristic of projects in rural areas. The larger scale programmes of Fund B and Fund C have extended the maximum length of projects from two to three years in recognition of the time it takes to develop long-term partnerships in communities. This can be a particular issue in rural areas where organisations may be very spread out geographically.

Rural-proofing solutions

Here are some of the ways you can prepare for the challenges of music-making in a rural area, based on findings from projects supported by Youth Music. A Big Lottery Fund report echoes many of these solutions.

Planning Without the infrastructure of a dedicated youth centre, research and development can take longer.  Taster sessions in public spaces and local events can whet appetites and provide a platform for consultation with children, young people and the rest of the community. Short term projects which parachute in and out of a locality can raise expectations then fail to deliver, and are less likely to be successful than those embedded in the community.  Early relationship-building with local councillors, residents, schools, shop owners, playgroup leaders and community transport providers can help identify those children and young people most in need as well as resources that might be useful e.g. workshop space, minibus drivers etc.  This helps builds voluntary champions who can help promote the project further on the ground to ensure those who need it most are engaged.

Recruitment It can be more expensive and time-consuming to reach the children and young people most in need if they are few and far between. As in an urban area, publicity has to be appropriately designed to attract them (ideally with input by young people) but also additional promotional routes may need to be used, such as leaflets distributed on school buses, through letter boxes in targeted households and put up in local shops and notice boards. Music leaders may need to rely on local advocates particularly young people to help distribute publicity material and support a social media campaign to persuade other young people to attend. Word of mouth is of course often the cheapest and most effective promotional method.

Location Timing participatory music sessions around bus services can help. Where no transport options exist at all, some projects have used mobile venues in vans or hired a variety of local venues for workshops. Other projects found that placing the sessions in a centralised location such as market town with relatively good transport links was the best way to ensure as many children and young people could reach it as possible.  Parents are often prepared to drive their children to music activities and may be persuaded to transport other participants as well.  Although informal music sessions in school after lessons may not be ideal they can still provide a setting where most children are present although getting home can still be problematic.  Providing a good quality, warm environment where young people can feel comfortable can take time to sort out, as can storing and setting up equipment. Digital technology (when it works!) can also add another layer of engagement as demonstrated by NYMAZ’s ‘Connect: Resound’  project which has been trialling instrumental tuition by Skype.  Livestreamed gigs, concerts and masterclasses are becoming more frequent and can demonstrate high quality music-making to those who are geographically distant from venues. Group trips to urban cultural venues are also encouraged to broaden horizons and can be part of gaining Arts Awards.

Staff and volunteers Finding music leaders who live locally or who are prepared to travel long distances on a regular basis can also be problematic. Applicants to Youth Music’s funding programme are encouraged to consider training volunteers and young people to take up a music facilitation role as well as supporting the administrative and management side. In the event of bad weather and inevitable cancellation, key people who can carry a session when the music leader is unable to make it can keep up the momentum and develop skills locally. The voluntary sector has always provided the backbone of participation in the arts and if public funds gravitate towards the areas where they will reach high numbers of people rather than ensuring universal access, there will be even greater pressure for rural communities to support themselves.

Sustainability Sustainability needs to be addressed throughout the life of the funded project by seeking future funding from other trusts and foundations, earning income through subscriptions or sponsorship and developing the goodwill of volunteers.  Performances by young people in local events raise visibility of projects and are known to improve adults’ (often misconceived) perceptions of young people as well as young people’s own sense of belonging to a community.

Understanding young people’s needs Behavioural differences have also been observed between country and town-based children and young people. Tutors have reported that children and young people who are rurally isolated have a tendency to be shyer and more withdrawn than their urban counterparts. Their reliance on parents or carers to support their recreational choices is heightened by a dependence on lifts from their immediate family.

Building rural-proofing into a Youth Music application

Youth Music recognises that there is a significant “rural cost premium” in supporting projects in rural areas although some of the issues also feature in urban settings. Applicants working in rurally isolated areas are encouraged to identify the additional resources needed to address some of the difficulties, for example, by providing transport for young people or to cover music leaders’ costs in travelling long distances. Additional time may be factored in to strengthen local networks, e.g. establishing partnerships in the community, or liaising with venues and other voluntary and statutory services to secure their support around sharing resources.

If you would like any advice about rural-proofing your music-making project, please do get in touch at grants@youthmusic.org.uk or 020 7902 1060. Applications for Youth Music’s Fund A are now open: find out more here.

Share your thoughts

How have you overcome the challenges of rural isolation? What should new rural music-making projects bear in mind? You may like to link to the discussion on the Youth Music network's Musical Inclusion Group  http://network.youthmusic.org.uk/groups/musical-inclusion  or let us know your experiences in the comments below.