“The clubs are great and I wouldn’t be the person I am today without them”
Leila Adamson, now a trainee Music Leader.
 
Project Background
St Christopher’s Youth Project applied to Youth Music on the strength of a previous programme run on the same basis; they applied for this grant so that they could continue the good work and strengthen their reputation in the area in the hope of establishing more security for the organisation in the future.  The Saint Christopher’s Youth Project is based in a community centre on the Holme Wood Estate in Bradford, a place where many young people experience economic disadvantage whilst dealing with other complex social issues.   

Project Details
The Music Makers project was attended by 139 young people aged between 8 and 18 years.  The project enhanced its reach by working in various settings across the area, three primary schools, one secondary school, four after school clubs and three weekly sessions at the Saint Christopher’s Youth Project itself.  The young people who turned up, many of whom had no previous experience with music making, were encouraged to explore the basics of music making and composition through experimenting with the equipment and technology available.  As their confidence improved the young people were invited to perform their original compositions in front of friends and family – a great chance for the young people to affirm their new found talents on stage.

What Happened?
The project was an enormous success, with instant benefits to the lives of those participating.  Many of the young people enjoying the project were at various stages of exclusion from their schools.  The staff at the schools quickly realised the positive effects that the Music Maker project was having on their pupils, many become less disruptive and more focussed.  3 pupils who had previously been excluded were welcomed back to school having worked hard, with the help of the Music Maker project, to earn their place back with their friends and peers at school. On a musical side; the young people who joined the project have each found an area of music making that they enjoy, many of them would not have had the chance, due to economic restrictions, to enjoy music making.  Some have gone on to form bands and purchase instruments with the help of their parents.The wider community have expressed their gratitude to the project: the after school clubs provide young people with a positive activity to enjoy in the evenings.  The young people themselves have also said how much they enjoy hanging out at the project, many of them seeing the youth project as a second home.

What Was Achieved?
The benefits of the Music Maker project are far reaching and diverse.  Many of these benefits can be exemplified in one person: Leila Adamson was a trainee music leader on the Music Makers project; she had taken part in the earlier Music Makers project and had expressed an interest in increasing her participation with the project.  Having recently been permanently excluded from school the Music Makers opportunity was a really positive one for her; she is now attending college and studying for 2 A-levels, she says of the project ‘Music Maker has changed my life and I wouldn’t miss it for the world’.

What Next?
Thanks to the success of the Music Maker project and the investment from Youth Music, the Saint Christopher’s Youth Project has secured funding to build and equip a further two rooms for use by young musicians and the larger community to make and practice music.

Words:  Lizzy King