Context:

The project worked on the Amersham Road estate in Lower Caversham, identified as an area of deprivation. The young people are all from disadvantaged social backgrounds, many have additional support from the local authority in terms of being involved with Early Help services or Children’s Social Care. They ranged rom 13-15 years old and are all female.

The project they are part of is primarily focused on building confidence, self-esteem and reducing vulnerabilities. Many of the young people had not accessed Music before except through school.

This project builds on an existing relationship between Readipop and Amersham Road, it marks the first time for the organisations to work together on an Arts Award project. It was the first time Readipop had tried to deliver an Arts Awrd in an informal education setting.

The delivery team was based on those who had previously worked at the centre and that worked well with the centre staff and young people.

Approach:

Sessions took place weekly in the evening at the same time girls club took place, 7pm – 9pm on Tuesdays. The young people who were interested would do an hour of music then an hour of normal youth club activities. Staff encouraged all of the young people to take part in the project and at least ‘have a go’ at making some music.

The project had two halves.

The first half was a period of taster activities in which the young people got to try out a range of ways of making music, these were:

  • Guitar
  • Bass
  • Drums
  • Hand Drums
  • Music Production
  • Keyboards

The second half built on what the young people had enjoyed and engaged with the most, using these as stimulus to write songs and improve their musical skills. The two main areas the young people were interested in were drums and music production. So weekly sessions allowed some time for drum practice and some time for composition using music tech.

During the second phase of the project a lot of the interest died off. The young people seemed to prefer the ‘have a go’ nature of the taster sessions more than the in-depth work done in the follow ups.

Also in the second phase of the project young people used iPads to research their favourite bands and artists, they then played videos on YouTube, discussing the artist and why they liked them. This was designed to link in with part B of the Discover Arts Award. The model worked very well and will be used on other projects.

In terms of moderating the project the youth centre staff took photos of the young people doing the activity. Readipop created a suite of documents for the young people to complete which would then be put together into a portfolio. Some of this didn’t work as well as intended, the documents weren’t introduced until phase 2 of the project, so some of the young people didn’t complete them, others didn’t engage with the paperwork aspect as it was to like school. Also due to child protection the Readipop team weren’t allowed to take photos of the young people meaning that sometimes some good evidence that would quickly be snapped wasn’t possible.

Final portfolios were complied by the music leader, they included the young people’s hand written notes, photographs the that young people had annotated and CDs of recordings. Readipop provided all equipment for the session to take place.

Issues arising, improvements and advice:

  • The sessions taking place at the same time as regular youth club meant it was sometimes difficult to retain the young people’s attention, especially when it came to asking them to complete their portfolios.
  • The two phases of the project didn’t really work as well as hoped.
  • It was tricky, although understandable, for the Readipop team not being allowed to photograph the young people, as this can form good evidence.
  • The young people themselves lead very hectic lives and weren’t always at youth club, so the last of the portfolio work was left until the last session, which several of the young people missed, meaning they didn’t have sufficient evidence for their arts award.

Impact:

One young person achieved an Arts Award, two more have theirs mostly complete and Readipop/Amersham Road are looking at finding funding to help them complete it.

The youth worker found that the project was beneficial in terms of increasing young people’s self-confidence and giving them ownership and responsibility of part of their life.

Although the project only gained one Arts Award it was considered a success in many other ways and Readipop and Amersham Road are currently seeking funding to do a follow up project with a new cohort and a few returning young people. If funding s successfully found the lessons learned on this project will make future projects more successful in terms of percentage of young people achieving arts awards.

Comments:

“I really enjoyed working with Rob; he is awesome and helped me play drums” Project Participant

“The sessions were great” Project Participant