Brighter Sound

At Brighter Sound we believe that music making and creativity should be part of the lives of all children and young people. From 2018 to 2022 Brighter Sound will deliver AMIE North West across Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire.
We will work with partners, practitioners and young people to grow and improve the music offer in the region, to help create and strengthen pathways to music, to reach those who may have barriers to accessing music activity, and to strengthen what can be offered by the network of people and organisations who bring music to children and young people every day.

We put the following elements at the centre of our work:

• to be welcoming, supportive and actively inclusive across everything that we do
• to find, nurture and support an inspirational workforce network, from staff to practitioners to trainees and partner organisations
• to put young people first, ensuring their voices are heard and that they can effectively influence projects, communications and the way we work
• to create, deliver or support imaginative, ambitious projects that make space for challenge, experimentation and risk, in fun, supportive and engaging ways and give young musicians inspiration and goals to push themselves
• to support creative music making - whatever background, musical ability, barriers or experience participants have, the process of making new music with others is transformative, and provides the focus for change of any kind

Through our programme we will work with Music Education Hubs across our region and deliver projects through a variety of partners across education, health and culture. We will provide training and support for new and established music practitioners, and we will provide a broad range of opportunities for young people to become involved in creative music making, and to develop and progress through Brighter Sound and our partners.

Examples of our projects include:

• Swan Street Collective - a talented ensemble of young music-makers with additional needs. The ever-evolving group explore a variety of accessible acoustic instruments, electronic assistive technologies and vocal techniques to discover their musical potential.
   
• Sing City - our young people-led weekly music group for musicians of any genre aged 13-18. Participants develop their skills in everything from songwriting to studio recording - event production to artistic collaboration. The group host a regular live night at a professional music venue in Manchester, and have hosted guests including Bugzy Malone, Blossoms and Field Music.
   
• Tech & Innovation – a programme giving young musicians the opportunity to work with experienced electronic and sound artists to learn skills in digital music-making and production.
   
• Artistic residencies - week-long projects led by established artists to encourage creativity, experimentation and collaboration.
   
• Young Composers Commission – supported projects over several months which include mentoring from experienced artists and result in new work produced and performed live.
   
• Traineeships – 6-month development opportunities for exciting and reflective musicians who want to develop their skills as creative practitioners in a safe and supportive environment through training, mentoring and shadowing.

www.brightersound.com