Welcome to Youth Music’s East of England regional home page. This is a new site section dedicated to information specific to your region.

Youth Music’s Regional Executive Officer for the East of England is Lyndall Rosewarne, who has had previous careers in theatre, youth work and heritage before ‘becoming musical’ at the age of 40. She says of her work
‘Youth Music is a catalyst, its funding should be used to kick start new initiatives, to pursue new thinking and develop the provision of opportunities for young people in music’.

Lyndall is available 3 days per week to talk to anyone with a good idea or wanting advice on planning a project or maintaining one once the funding runs out.

The East of England has seen a steady growth in population which began in the 1950s when Londoners relocated to new towns such as Harlow. Into the future expansion is planned for many parts of the region, such as the M11 corridor including a whole new town near Cambridge and the massive regeneration of the Thames Gateway area.

The Region boasts the vibrant cosmopolitan cities of Norwich and Cambridge, seaside holiday destinations such as, Clacton and Yarmouth.

Although many people will pass through the region using the M1, M11 or Stansted airport the region also has remote rural areas ill served by road or rail.

Youth Music aims to target young people with ‘least opportunity’ and in this region it has funded activity in many areas facing multiple deprivation and those where a traditional industry has declined leaving the area impoverished. It has also looked for young people facing less obvious challenges, mental ill health, for example, or young people who act as carers for a sick parent.  It has funded a number of projects which aimed to bring music making into the lives of children facing disability including one which is running right across Bedfordshire.

Some projects have made a feature of traditional music gleaned from emerging communities, many drawn to the region by the availability of agricultural work.

The East of England also has small but significant multi ethnic communities. It is impossible to generalise about these communities they all have their own story and reason for forming in a particular geographical area. Youth Music has pump primed projects in a number of these communities which have built bridges between people and gone on to become the cornerstone of local community cohesion.

Youth Music’s flagship project in the region is Music Wise the Youth Music Action Zone for Norfolk. The project has provided ongoing activity for young people in Norfolk in both town and rural settings and plans to develop its work with hard to reach groups even further in the future.

Visit the Regional Policy page for the East