News from ‘Livewire’, the Youth Music supported programme in Herefordshire
The 'Livewire' programme and related youth work in Herefordshire - a summary of the past year or so, and a look forward to what's coming up.
Introduction
In a time of changes and financial difficulties for many community music organisations, we’re very happy to say that ‘Livewire’, The Music Pool’s youth programme across Herefordshire, and our long relationship with Youth Music, are ongoing and developing anew.
From March 2016, when our then Fund ‘A’ grant came to its end, activities were happily able to be extended, due to the generosity of an individual participant’s parent, who made a personal donation – our grateful thanks to Dave Lonsdale for supporting this great work!
So ‘Livewire’ didn’t have to be suspended, and we could ensure vital continuity for the participants and all they’d built up, while we await the start of our new Fund ‘A’ grant, under which work is about to begin. And yet again, thanks so much to all at Youth Music for continuing to support our work across Herefordshire.
The ‘Livewire’ programme, Sep 2015 to Mar 2016 – summary of the work
The two main elements of the programme have been….
- ‘Livewire Tuesdays’ – weekly sessions in band-building, songwriting, performance skills, music tech skills, instrumental & vocal skills etc. on Tuesday evenings
- ‘Livewire Central’ – a week-long intensive course, held in school holidays, culminating in a fully mounted public gig
All these sessions were (and still are) run at ‘The Castle Green Pavilion’ in central Hereford, an ideal venue, as
- It has enough separate spaces to allow several different rehearsals to go on simultaneously
- We also rent vital on-site storage space for the project equipment, so it’s logistically ideal
- Linked to that, the participants are familiar with it as a friendly location and regard it as their project’s ‘home’
- Being quite central, and not in one residential area or another, it’s seen as ‘neutral ground’, and helps to ensure that no potential participants will feel put off going there
….and in addition to the main ‘Livewire’ programme…
- Additional performance opportunities for ‘Livewire’ participants, including at Nozstock Festival, Hay Festival, Hereford River Carnival and The Left Bank
- Further outreach sessions with young people at St David’s Centre pupil referral unit (county-wide catchment)
- Sessions at the Cambian school for looked-after children and young people (CYP) in local authority care
- Sessions with Nova Training, a centre specifically targeting young people (YP) who are not in education, employment or training (NEETS)
- A session with SHYPP (Supported Housing & Young People Project) a housing trust supporting YP who are homeless
- Sessions at Brookfield School (both primary and secondary departments) for pupils with behavioural issues (county-wide catchment)
- Sessions at Blackmarston primary school for children with a range of physical and learning disabilities
- Sessions with the Marches Family Network – out-of-school-hours activities for CYP with a range of physical and learning disabilities (county-wide)
- Sessions with Hope Support Services – a county-wide charity which supports CYP who have a close family-member with a serious or terminal illness
- CPD and planning activities with our Music Leaders and staff
…and it’s also important that, for many of the above related areas of work, there was the opportunity to signpost CYP to the main ‘Livewire’ activities.
April 2016 onwards - the new ‘Livewire’ programme and more related work
As mentioned in the intro, we’re very grateful for Mr Lonsdale’s donation, which is enabling ‘Livewire Tuesdays’ to continue in the interim (while awaiting the start of the new Fund ‘A’ grant support) and in addition…
..can support an exciting new proposed initiative – the establishment of a new ‘Livewire’ support/working group - made up of staff, Music Leaders, participants & their families, project partners and other supporters – with the aims of promoting the ‘Livewire’ brand, and seeking further sponsorship & donations.
We did also apply to Youth Music, for a grant under Fund ‘B’ but were not successful. However, we are really happy that our vital relationship with Youth Music (which has been ongoing in various forms for about 15 years!) is continuing with a new Fund ‘A’ grant, due to take effect in June 2016.
We’ll again be putting on, and continuing to develop, ‘Livewire Tuesdays’ and ‘Livewire Central’, along with…
- lots of related outreach work , extra performance opportunities, and CPD
- a video documentary project – 4 days of filming, recording & editing
- greater web & social media presence for ‘Livewire’
- continuing existing working partnerships - including with the existing outreach partners listed above, and developing new ones
- strengthening of our relationship with Herefordshire’s Music Education Hub (The Music Pool is actually designated ‘Principal Partner’ on its steering committee) – working with the Hub team exploring ideas whereby the YP from both can work together, and resources & practice can be effectively shared
…and more related activity this year…
- We’ve been fortunate in securing a new grant from the West Mercia Police & Crime Commissioner’s office, specifically to work with CYP who are at risk of offending, and/or who may already be in the youth justice system. This of course will stand alongside our ‘Livewire’ programme and related youth work. If it proves successful, we very much hope that the Commissioner’s office will continue to fund it in future. They have also awarded us a small grant to do similar work with adults over 21 yrs, but that work is carried out separately from any youth activities.
- We’re also working in partnership with St Michael’s Hospice, running music sessions with CYP who have parents or other close family members in the Hospice, so may well be preparing for, or going through stages of bereavement. Some of this work is diversionary/recreational, while some actually aims to explore & express participants’ feelings & issues. Our Music Leaders are working alongside social workers from the Hospice’s family support team, and this work is being piloted thanks to a small grant from Waitrose supermarket. The initiative has been extremely well received at the Hospice, and we very much hope that this success will lead to further funding to sustain this important work.
‘Goodbyes’ and ‘Hellos’!
We were sad to say goodbye to our Youth Music Project Manager, Jack Sibley, who had returned to us for a second time, to set up and run the 2015-16 programme, but has now gone on to pastures new. We’re extremely grateful to Jack for all his hard work & creative vision, further developing ‘Livewire’ ever stronger.
And we’re excited to welcome Nicky Jaques and Chris Butts, who will be sharing the role of Project Manager for the upcoming new ‘Livewire’ programme. Both are well known to us – Nicky was originally Jack’s predecessor in the role and is returning (although she never completely went away as she’s also a superb freelance Music Leader!) … and Chris is currently also an excellent Music Leader and experienced youth worker, who knows the ‘Livewire’ programme inside-out, as he’s been a lead freelancer for many months and has been invaluable in steering things during the interim period – including being instrumental in securing that vital donation.
We’re in very good hands, and we’re excitedly looking forward to it all!
Dennis Schiavon (Administrator, The Music Pool) 16th June 2016