Ian Clarke

Hi my names Ian, I'm a multi instrumentalist, performer and music producer based in Birmingham. I co own the Oxygen Rooms recording and rehearsal studio's and am managing director of Sound Community Music Ltd.

I have coordinated and delivered music making projects for Birmingham Youth Offending Service (YOS) since 2004. I currently manage and deliver a Youth Music funded studio based music making project for Birmingham YOS. The "Studio Project"  engages young people referred from across Birmingham Childrens Trust who will benefit from engagement with music making activities.

Our project provides support to services within Birmingham Childrens Trust who are looking to re-engage young people not in education, employment or training with music making activites. We work with Children in Care, Care leavers, School refusers and young people outside of mainstream education. We also support young people serving community orders with Birmingham YOS increasing their levels of compliance with and the succssfull completion of their court orders.

Our project works in partnership with several organisations from across the West midlands including the Birmingham Childrens Trust pathfinder project, Mac makes music and The University of Wolverhampton's Institute for Community Research and Development.

The Aim of our project is to increase the level of participants aspiration towards education training and employment. We also aim to raise participants levels of self esteem and confidence through the music making skills they gain which in turn we hope will foster and increased sense of their ability to achieve.