Soft Touch Arts aims to engage young people in deprived areas of Leicestershire using hip-hop, grime and dance music. The 160 young people between the ages of 11 to 19 benefiting will include some who have a background of offending, young people not in education or employment and looked-after children. Music leaders in the area say feedback from local police suggests that anti-social behaviour was less prevalent during the period previous Youth Music funded projects were underway.
Youth Music is the leading UK charity supporting life-changing music experiences and learning for children and young people. The £4.5m will be spent by music organisations helping young people with least opportunity access music provision. These include young people at risk of exclusion, children in care, those coping with disability and young people living in urban deprivation or rural isolation.
Over the last year, Youth Music supported in excess of 380 projects benefiting more than 110,000 young people and children – the highest number ever. This brings the total number helped by Youth Music to 2.5 million. Grants have been made available across all musical genres from opera to hip-hop.
Baby People has been awarded a grant of £42,700 to provide music drop-in sessions for young people in Derby, targeting those not in employment or training and looked-after children. Working closely with Derby City Council’s Youth Offending Service and Prevention Teams, the project will aim to engage young participants through learning about how to be an MC or music producer and through instruction in music technology.
Baby J, Managing Director of Baby People says: “Baby People is delighted to be working with Youth Music and Derby’s Youth Offending Service to deliver music-making and studio skills to young people in the city. Studios will be set up in areas where there is currently very little for young people to do and this will provide an amazing opportunity for those who are interested in becoming artists or entering the music industry.”
Soft Touch Arts aims to engage young people in deprived areas of Leicestershire using hip-hop, grime and dance music. The 160 young people between the ages of 11 to 19 benefiting will include some who have a background of offending, young people not in education or employment and looked-after children. Music leaders in the area say feedback from local police suggests that anti-social behaviour was less prevalent during the period previous Youth Music funded projects were underway.
Joe Crofton, Co-Director of Soft Touch Arts said: “Soft Touch Arts are very excited to start this strand of youth music work. It gives us the opportunity to begin working with some groups of young people that do not usually get the chance to participate in potentially life-changing opportunities like this. The funding will give us the chance to run a series of taster sessions in rural and city locations all over Leicestershire and in Leicester itself, targeting young people from a range of different back grounds. We will then run a regular weekly session at the Soft Touch Studios giving them opportunities to create music and perform at local showcase events and festivals.”
Matt Griffiths, Executive Director, Youth Music says: “We are delighted to support Soft Touch Arts and Baby People along with all the organisations who are doing such great work to support young people in the East Midlands region. We know that music captures the imagination of children and young people in a way that other learning often doesn’t and the benefits of their participation go way beyond developing musical skills. These benefits can include greater social and team working skills as well as enhanced self-esteem. We wish these organisations every success with their very worthwhile projects.”
