First fruits of Youth Music grant at the Crawley Sound Project
Young musicians from Crawley are already reaping the benefits of their recent Youth Music grant.
On Friday 16th March young musicians performed at Dormans Youth Arts Centre, showcasing how they are putting a £30,000 grant from Youth Music to good use.
The headline act for this hugely successful gig was The Brothers. In addition to performing, they are hoping to record their first album at Dormans later this year.
The Crawley Sound Project is the music wing of Crawley Community Youth Service (CCYS). It covers a number of weekly sessions, including Sound on the Stage (Monday and Tuesday nights in Langley Green Youth Hub), a mobile recording unit (Sound on the Street) and other music activities within CCYS’s more general clubs. Between these regular groups and one-off taster sessions, Crawley Sound Project has the potential to reach up to 500 local young people.
The generous grant from Youth Music (www.youthmusic.org.uk) represents a full year’s support for the Crawley Sound Project, enabling the introduction of new techniques and material.
CCYS Chairman, Dave Savage, commented “This funding allows us to develop a team of staff and volunteers which will secure the project in the longer term.”
That team includes expert musicians who are not only helping young people polish and up-level their skills but are also creating performance and recording opportunities.
The grant, which began in January, covers a three term project, the first phase focusing on musical skills and the second on live performance (with a number of local music events planned for the summer). The final term will be spent on music production and session skills.
Three months in, young musicians are working on set lists and learning new genres. They say the club makes a real difference to their lives and gives them opportunities that are not on offer elsewhere.
Dave says, “Our aim is to inspire young people to develop a lifelong interest in music making and performance at all levels and genres. Youth Music’s generosity enables us to offer regular musical opportunities to young people from Crawley who might otherwise be excluded for financial or social reasons.”