'How To Make Things Happen' - Project Development On Teesside
“Don’t waste time on closed doors”; a great piece of advice Gwyneth gave me during my internship with musinc! Having a committed project partner that shares the same ethos is vital when developing a project.
When developing a project to engage homeless young people, I approached a number of local services to pitch my idea and identify if there was any scope for a project. I received a range of responses - some of which meant that I literally couldn’t get through the door!
Luckily, Community Campus 87 were on board and saw our offer as an exciting opportunity for their young people to engage in music and try something new. Community Campus arranged for me to visit some of their supported housing to meet the young people in order to gain interest in our Music Taster Day event. Engaging with young people before hand was vital in building a rapport and establishing a professional relationship with them to hopefully enable them to take the first step towards music making. (http://communitycampus87.com/)
The Music Taster Day ‘drop in’ enabled young people to try out a number of musical activities including music technology, drumming, instruments, also giving them the space to socialise. In the event, just a small number of young people attended and so there wasn’t enough scope to develop the project as a weekly session. However through signposting, one of the young people is now a member of Breakthrough Music ran by All In Youth Project and is hoping to perform for rap-star, Akala, this month! (http://www.allinyouthproject.com/)
Prior to engaging with the Music Taster Day, this young person had never been part of a music session before and only played guitar in their bedroom. Now, all that has changed. The young person is a core member of the Breakthrough group, shares their original songs with others and has now had their first recording experience!
Even though only one young person continued their musical journey since the Music Taster Day, that’s one more than before that is accessing musical opportunities in their local area.
The process of project development has enabled me to realise how much time, effort and engagement it can take to develop a project from scratch, and that sometimes things don’t work out but it’s better to give it a try and learn through the process than to not learn or challenge yourself at all!