Newsletter - Autumn 2014

AYM grant enables support for young musicians

 

Awards for Young Musicians (AYM) is delighted to announce that we have recently been awarded a large grant from Youth Music to support the development of our Furthering Talent programme in partnership with SoundCity: Brighton and Hove

 

Positive impact on talented young people’s lives

 

Furthering Talent is all about giving talent a chance by targeting and sustaining excellent support for young people with emerging musical talent from lower income families and it’s already making a huge difference in Brighton.

 

Here’s a primary school teacher talking about the impact of this personal support on two of the young people in her school:

 

“It has significantly changed their direction in life, self esteem and self confidence and they have both been back to see me from Year 7 and thanked me as they are just loving Year 7 music. Their families just could not have afforded or even instilled that aspiration in them as their situations were so complicated. K is a refugee and the family have experienced such significant racism that music has just kept him going. A is from a large family and there is not a lot of money in the home, though a lot of love, and he is so hugely talented but also at risk of running off the rails. The music has helped him find his identity and be proud of himself.”

 

The Youth Music funding will enable AYM to support 90 young people across not just Brighton and Hove but also Greater Manchester and Staffordshire for the next 2 years.

 

What will the grant fund?

 

• Individual weekly instrumental tuition for two academic years for young people with emerging potential in music who would otherwise have no chance of continuing to play due to lack of funding.

• Additional support for their musical progression, according to their own individual needs. This will include collective opportunities for the young people via annual Get Together events plus individual support.

• Training for music leaders around identifying and progressing musical potential

• Funding for Brighton’s Local Furthering Talent Co-ordinator, Natasha Bautista, to continue her work in running the programme locally

• External evaluation of the programme

 

These elements aim to deliver really high quality support for participants, developing what we hope will become a truly excellent musical progression model.

 

Music Day held on 21 November

 

Friday saw one of our regular Get Togethers for all the Furthering Talent students across the city, a really important opportunity for all the children to not only meet each other but also to make music together.  In the morning they took part in two workshops designed to explore and stretch their musical horizons. In the first they composed music for a silent film and in the second they explored music through movement. In the afternoon all the young musicians came together in a Stomp style body percussion workshop which then lead into playing together in a Samba band. They also performed to parents and carers at the end of the day.

 

Can you help?

 

The Youth Music grant, generous though it is, doesn’t cover all the ongoing costs of the programme over the next two years and so we’re really keen to hear from other musical partners in Brighton and Hove who might be able to offer these talented young people additional support: are there existing events, opportunities or resources they could tap into? It would be great to hear from you if you can help!

 

Further questions?

 

Please contact Natasha Bautista, AYM’s Local Furthering Talent Co-ordinator for Brighton and Hove.

 

01273 293524

07769816880

Natasha.Bautista@brighton-hove.gov.uk

http://www.a-y-m.org.uk

 

Photograph courtesy of Edward Webb.