Welcome to Youth Music’s North East regional homepage.  This is a new site section dedicated to information specific to your region.

I am Gwyneth Lamb, the Regional Executive Officer for the North East.  I joined Youth Music in January 2006.  Before that I’d worked as a manager in community arts and education, but I started my career as a musician with a theatre company.    I am passionate about helping young people develop their music making - I can advise groups who want to develop new work, and can help to develop cross regional partnerships and networks – enabling us all to benefit from best practice within the region and beyond.

This is the most northerly of the English regions, bordering Scotland to the North and Yorkshire to the south.   The region has seen great changes over the past 30 years as the heavy industries of coal, shipbuilding and steel have given way to a more mixed economy.   The North East is now equally well known for its cultural developments such as the Angel of the North,  the Sage Gateshead, the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art.  We have a wonderful coastline and stunning natural landscapes with the Northumberland National Park in the north and the North Pennines area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to the west.  If you haven’t visited the North East, come and see what we have to offer!
 
About 2.5 million people live here, and 19% of the population is under 16.  Youth Music aims to help these young people enjoy and achieve and make a positive contribution to their communities – the North East continues to lag behind the rest of the regions in terms of employment, economic activity and the educational achievements of our young people.
 
The North East has a strong musical heritage, from the colliery brass bands of County Durham to the unbroken tradition of Northumbrian music in the north. The Sage Gateshead – opened in 2004 – has given us an unparalleled music venue which is home to the region’s orchestra, the Northern Sinfonia.   The Sage Gateshead runs a comprehensive learning and participation programme engaging everyone from babies to the ‘Silver Singers’ in music making, and holds the renowned ‘Folkworks’ Youth Summer School in Durham each year.  The regional Youth Music Action Zone, ‘Co Musica’ is part of the Sage Gateshead’s learning and participation programme, with projects running in nine districts across the region.

Youth Music’s Open Programmes funding ensures that young people who cannot access these opportunities still have the chance to take part in high quality music making, and strategic projects such as the North East’s National Singing Project, ‘the Singing Dales’ focus on areas where young people have least access to music making opportunities.

Youth Music’s policy from 2005-10 focuses upon 5 priorities: early years; singing; transition between primary and secondary school; young people at risk; workforce development.

Visit the Regional Policy page for the North East