by Author ConnorF2T

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Community Of Music Practice - Northamptonshire

On Thursday 2nd September, Free2Talk formed formed an initial meeting of Music & Youth professionals to form the inaurgral Community Of Practice for Music in Northampton. The goals behind forming this group is to fuse practioner knowledge and resources to provide the young music artists of Northampton with the best possible opportunities to reacht their potential. The meeting was attended by Teachers, Venue Owners, Music Producers, Artists, Youth Workers & Event Promotors. The initial meeting was set up to find out what practices work best in a youth music setting. 

What Works Well In Music Youth Work?

  • Based on a discussion of 10 Music / Youth professionals, we come up with methods that have worked well in the past for both personal and professional experiences.
  • A key area was through promoting a supportive environment, allowing young people to explore their creativity without judgement. This allows young people to develop transferable skills that can help in other aspects of life such as education or employment.  
  • Having a sense of musical community has always provided a network of support for young people and musicians alike. This has been found in places such as youth clubs, after school clubs, music events such as gigs or raves, musical collectives such as Lay It Down and through collaborating with other artists in your area to fuse ideas. 
  • Youth Led Music Events have a proven track record of providing young artists with real life industry experience whilst enabling them to take ownership over the project. The skills developed through running an event can also be transferred to employability. Communication, Teamwork and practical skills play a huge factor in addition to the baseline music skills. 

What young artists need in Northampton?

  • Wider access to knowledge / tutors (Professional Artist Mentors)
  • Open access music youth clubs
  • Access to music equipment
  • Accessible music studios
  • Being able to join communities / networks to share ideas and pass on knowledge. 
  • Youth music platform - being able to play at events / venues / release their music. 
  • Advice forums on how to progress to the next steps / find support. 
  • Artist development programmes.

Next Steps

Moving on from the initial music professionals meeting, professionals will present the outcomes of the meeting to young artists in Northampton. Discuss the needs and what can be done to improve the opportunities for them. The findings will be discussed at the next meeting where we can move forward with implementing the new ideas into the youth system of Northampton. 

If you would like to join in with the next meeting - Please contact Connor Osborn on connor.osborn@free2talkcic.org.