North East Juice Festival WE ARE HERE event at Sage Gateshead on October 2015
On Saturday 26th October 2015 young people from across the north east took over Sage Gateshead in an event called WE ARE HERE.
~~In partnership with Juice Festival, Sage Gateshead's CoMusica programme supported a day long festival for young people wishing to get into the music industry. Led by young leader Rebecca Gregson and a group of young people, the day consisted of a morning of workshops followed by an evening showcase event in Sage Gateshead’s Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
The concept of the day was to provide young people with the information and tools they need to progress within the Music Industry. This was done through a series of workshops and networking conversations with relevant organisations.
The workshops, in our Music Education Centre, were led by young people and practicing artists on topics such as guitar skills, creating your own music label and music tech production. The participants had the opportunity to pick and choose what elements of the day they wanted to attend.
After working hard all afternoon the participants were then treated to a VIP experience of Sage Gateshead with a tech tour of the building. This involved accessing areas of the building not usually accessible to the public and a look at the work that takes place backstage. The tour finished off on Hall 1 stage with the young people getting a taste of what it might be like to perform in a venue capable of holding over 1500 people!
The young artists/participants then went to Northern Rock Hall where they had their own own designated tech team to help with sound checks. Then it was off to the dressing rooms to relax before ‘show time’ and enjoy the free buffet! Each artist was paid for their time regardless of past experience.
Finally we got to the exciting highlight of the day with a showcase performance in our Northern Rock Foundation Hall at 7pm. With family and friends coming along to support the 10 artists we had from across the North East, we were full. Over 110 people attended the evening event and they were treated to a variety of music tastes from Heavy Metal to Rap. All performances received tremendous applause.
Considering we had artists who had never performed in public before this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we are already in conversation with Juice to build on this pilot event and make next year bigger and even better!! Our volunteers have worked tirelessly over the past 3 months and now are having a very well deserved holiday!