My experience on Quench Arts’ Interface project – Eudina Jarrett (Music Leader)

When I first heard about the Interface pilot programme, I was extremely excited to be able to be a part of it. My main work is around music technology, music production and songwriting, so being able to work with young people to combine this with a live band was a great opportunity. Working with young people and young leaders from different ethnic backgrounds, disabilities and seeing them all work together has been heartwarming.

I have learnt so much from the young music leaders (who are aged 18-25) due to their expertise in the instruments they play but also the different genres of music that they are all interested in and being able to work with them to fuse the different genres together.It has been a great experience being able to pass on my experience and expertise around teaching and leadership to the young leaders, equipping them with the knowledge and experience to be able to lead sessions aimed at younger people and watching them develop as young leaders.

I personally am experienced in working with young people in various different areas, however working with young people aged 14/15 and young adults aged 18-25 has enabled me to develop in terms of delivering sessions to meet the needs of all ages in one session, which at times has been difficult but definitely a great learning experience. Supporting the young people to develop confidence and to form a band and work together as a band to create pieces of music using technology has been profound, and watching them fuse this together to perform live pieces of music has been interesting as it’s not something that you see very often. Therefore, it has been a very interesting project, not just for myself but for the young people and young leaders.

I have an immense amount of experience of working with young people in various different areas, especially within youth work and the youth justice system. I see the things that young people in Birmingham face, including poverty, deprivation, knife crime, peer pressures and, therefore, see the importance of having positive and meaningful activities for them to access. Music is very popular amongst young people in Birmingham and is often used as a way to express themselves, which many struggle to do on a day to day basis yet are able to do so through music. This enables young people to share how they feel, what they are going through and in turn enables staff to signpost to various different types of support. It is also an opportunity for young people to work with others from other backgrounds, ethnicities, sexual orientation, disabilities and understand life from different people’s perspectives. It also gives opportunities to young people to engage in positive and meaningful activities detracting them from becoming involved in crime through peer pressure or boredom. This is definitely a project I would like to see continue in the future as it has so much potential.