Projects

Information:
ADeC (Arts Development in East Cambridgeshire)
We are committed to making a genuine difference to the people at the heart of our community, bringing people together through the arts. We aim to create a vibrant and inclusive arts environment for everyone: artist, participants and audiences. We work predominantly in rural areas and provide local access to high quality arts both through our own events programme, and by working with local volunteers to provide village based activity. We also work through the arts to meet specific community needs, including work with young people.

Nathan Jones (Arts Development Manager) :
The way the young people of the East Cambridgeshire took to rap music was fantastic. This was largely due to the fact that we maintained a high level of quality in the opportunities we presented and the professionals they worked with. Bringing Eric (rap music leader) from London for regular sessions had obvious cost and logistical implications but the young people appreciated that the knowledge, skills and passion that he brought to the project were not available locally.
The project not only increased, but in many cases also unlocked, the musical skills of young people in challenging circumstances and rural areas. At least four young people are looking to continue this in the future.
I was surprised at how we went so deep so quickly in terms of lyrical content. All those involved in the project saw how rap music was clearly a powerful tool in allowing young people (particularly those in challenging circumstances) the chance to express themselves. Having Bel (CYPS Youth Worker) involved proved invaluable in helping to address issues that arose in a positive and constructive way, thereby improving the psychological well being of the young people. Eric's vast experience of working with young people who were sharing their thoughts through music was also brought into play.
By running the Arts Award and Youth Award alongside the project we motivated some of those involved to see how they could gain qualifications whilst doing the things they loved. Those who undertook the Beat the Rap radio training enjoyed the experience and we wish to develop this more in the future.

It was fascinating to see those coming from a rock music background learning to work to different structures and to centre songs around the lyrics. These young people had to learn to allow more musical space for the vocals and to take their lead from the lyrical content; as opposed to focusing on loud guitar and drums with the vocals as an after thought. One young heavy rock singer realized that her lyrics were starting to get more recognition, that she could explore a greater variety of themes and feelings and that she had a more significant role in how a song was put together. As a result she is now more interested in continuing to explore the rap genre than going back to heavy rock where she feels it would be too easy to fall back into more limiting clichés.

Our Open Programme goal was to encourage Talent and Potential.
We were able to achieve this by running the project over a long time period and by providing a good team of music leaders and support staff.
The long time frame gave both participants and music leaders the opportunity to get to know each other, creating a comfortable and supportive environment. Participants appreciated the on going support and responded to the encouragement they were given.
The time also allowed for the exploration of different ideas and approaches. Participants saw that they could come back to ideas at a later date to refine them as they developed new ideas, confidence and skills. Participants began to realize that this was different to a short term one-off work shop and that they could pace themselves and have more than one chance to get some things right.

ADeC will continue to promote music making opportunities amongst young people and we can now add rap music to the list of genres we can offer. We are involved with the music rooms being developed at YPL (Young People Littleport) and will help ensure that there are a number of sessions each week when young people can learn music, rehearse and record.

The impact of the project on a number of the young people has been considerable. We have seen young people grow in confidence, musical skill and develop socially. A number have been converted to rap music and several have gone from simply listening to music to now writing and performing it.
We hope that the young participants will continue to say in touch with each other and continue to pursue musical activities; ADeC will certainly be doing our best to facilitate this.