GemArts East by North East - Blog by Margaret Ridgley - Partner Organisation (July 2023)
Margaret Ridgley, Project Co-ordinator, North Benwell Youth Project
Here is a blog by Margaret Ridgley, who is The Project Co-ordinator at North Benwell Youth Project, a partner organisation for GemArts’ Youth Music funded East by North East music project. Margaret discusses the partnership with GemArts and the growth facilitated by this project, and how the participants have benefitted from working alongside the talented music leaders.
NBYP continue to be a part of the East by North East music project led by Gem Arts. We've been developing our sessions since 2013 and these sessions are lively and fun with an opportunity to learn a musical skill such as playing an instrument, writing lyrics, rapping, singing, music production and performing to others. The sessions run every Monday (girls) and every Wednesday (boys). During the boys sessions, learning to play together as a band rather than trying to outperform each other can take time to grasp.
The girls like to sing together especially traditional Czech and Romanian songs. With the support of the music leader, Lily wrote her own song which she sang at a recent music sharing performance at the project, overcoming her initial shyness.
Gem Arts provide professional music leaders who have the talent and also the skills, to relate with the young people. Adam, Ashleigh and Anna have been an integral part of the young people music development.
Musicians Freddie and Martha have recently joined the team to give extra support.
Filip who is now 18 has attended the project from many years and is a keen musician. Filip was also featured in the The Sound Of The Next Generation report by Youth Music https://youthmusic.org.uk/filip. He has been asked by Vic from Gem Arts to support the music sessions and be mentored by Freddie. This is a great opportunity for Filip to develop leadership skills and share his musical experience.
Ashleigh arranged tickets for the girls to watch Katherine Jenkins perform at The Sage Gateshead. Not normally a genre of music they would listen to, but they absolutely enjoyed it and watched transfixed at her performance. This was an experience they would not normallv have had the opportunity to engage with and NBYP are grateful to Ashleigh and Gem Arts for making it possible.
We have an array of musical instruments and equipment including a drums kit, keyboard, various guitars, microphones, speakers and mixers.
The music room has recently been refurbished; extra thick carpet has helped with sound proofing the room.
Our partnership with GemArts has really developed and strengthened over the years and we continue to demonstrate impact around progression routes for young people and positive outcomes in terms of musical, personal and social development, and we hope the East by North East music sessions will always remain as part of the sessions offered at NBYP.
