scene magazine, issue 84, may 2016

Issue 84, May, 2016 ISBN: 0791-6302

Erasmus + Youth Work - Music & Cultural Entrepreneurship Edition

INSIDE

sceneMAGAZINE

Contributors:UK Youth

IYMAsYouth ScotlandYouthAction NI

SamfésNYCI

Youth CymruLithuanian Children

& Youth CentreYouth Work Ireland

3 Editorial Dr Patrick J. Burke, Youth Work Ireland

4 Irish Youth Music Awards Barry Lennon, Youth Work Ireland

7 My IYMAs Experience Jake McArdle, Youth Work Ireland Louth

8 A Musical Against Bullying Tomas Rakovas, Lithuanian Children & Youth Centre

10 Stuck Together Festival Victor Berg Guomundsson, Samfés

12 KAYA Festival Melanie Ryan, Youth Cymru

16 Team Galway, From Nuns Island to the Aviva Rachel Maher, Youth Work Ireland Galway

19 The Big Project Niamh Dillon, NYCI

20 The Big Music Project Maddie Dinwoodie, UK Youth

22 Nathan’s Story Gerard Hughes, YouthAction NI

24 The Big Music Project, Scotand Fiona Muir, Youth Scotland

26 LIFEMAPS, A Model of Mental Health Caroline Redpath, YouthAction NI

Scene MagazineIssue 84, May 2016

Contents

Production Editors: Barry Lennon & Matthew SeebachLayout: Gina Halpin Proofing: Geraldine MooreCover Image: JANAJ by Ruth Medjber at IYMAs 2016

Contributors: Victor Berg Guomundsson, Patrick Burke, NiamhDillon, Maddie Dinwoodie, Gerard Hughes, Barry Lennon, RachelMaher, Jake McArdle, Fiona Muir, Tomas Rakovas, CarolineRedpath & Melanie Ryan

Contact: Youth Work Ireland, 20 Lower Dominick Street, Dublin 1,Tel: 01‐8584500

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.youthworkireland.ie

Facebook: www.facebook.com/youthworkireland

Disclaimer: It is open to all our readers to exchange information or to put forwardpoints of view. Send in news, comments, letters or articles to the editors. Viewsexpressed in this magazine are the contributors own and do not reflect those ofthe Irish Youth Work Centre or Youth Work Ireland.

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Scene Magazine Issue 84, May 20163

EditorialWelcome to this edition of Scene Magazine which brings afocus to youth music and youth work. The arts and music arean important part of youth work and several actions relating toyouth arts are identified in the National Youth Strategy 2015‐2016.Like the framers of the Youth Strategy, we believe music is a vital resource and tool foroffering young people a voice and empowering them to engage in their communities,to realise their full potential and to maintain their wellbeing. Further, music has thepotential to support young people to develop skills, careers and gain employment. In areport by Ernst and Young commissioned by Gesac entitled “Creating growth ‐Measuring cultural and creative markets in the EU” published in December 2014 wecan see the importance of supporting and developing young people's skills andexpertise within the creative and music industries that exist. As stated in the reportthese industries contribute to revenues of €535.9b with the creative and culturalindustries (CCIs) contributing to 4.2% of Europe’s GDP. The sector is its third‐largestemployer, after construction and food and beverage service activities, such as bars andrestaurants. We must further develop and support programmes and projects that offeryoung people access and entry to the creative and music industries. We encourageyou to highlight to your elected representatives and local governing bodies, the workdone in the area of youth music and encourage them to provide further supports tothis area so we can reach more young people with this work.

As with all editions of Scene Magazine, we seek here to capture experience of adiverse range of youth organisations and practitioners and to provide ideas aboutpractice that can support Irish youth work practitioners in developing their ownpractice. The occasion for this issue, is the formation of a strategic partnership withyouth services from across Europe who use music as a tool for supporting thedevelopment of young people. These partners include; UK Youth, Youth Cymru(Wales), Samfés (Iceland), Youth Scotland, Lithuanian Children and Youth Centre andYouth Action Northern Ireland, with Youth Work Ireland as the lead partner. The mostrecent achievement of this partnership has been the successful funding of a KA2Erasmus + project entitled Youth Work ‐ Music and Cultural Entrepreneurship. The endresult of this project is the design of an online toolkit/site on how to use music as a toolfor engaging and retaining young people in youth services, as well as creating an onlinecommunity of other youth services from across Europe that use music.

This special edition contains articles from each of the project partners, each sharingknowledge around how they use music as a tool to provide supports to young peopleunder the headings of employment, education, enterprise and youth work practice.

We have set up a project Facebook page where we will post updates on the progressof the project and we hope you will follow it to keep updatewww.facebook.com/ka2youthmusic/ Please join the conversation by sharinginformation about your organisation’s work with music under the #ka2youthmusic.

Music and the arts are a vital method in youth work for achieving outcomes in thelives of young people. It is also clear from the examples in this edition of SceneMagazine that Irish and European youth work organisations are engaged in ambitiousand effective programmes of work to support the involvement of young people inmusic and the arts. Taking a broad view, what is perhaps missing is joined up thinking,or a comprehensive action plan to ensure that every young person in Ireland has anopportunity to engage in opportunities such as are documented in these pages. NYCIhas called for such an action plan and here we would like to endorse this call and askthe new Government to address this gap in their programme of work.

Dr. Patrick J. BurkeCEO Youth Work Ireland


The Irish Youth Music Awards (IYMAs) involves340 youth clubs and over 150 projects incommunities all over Ireland. Marking it’s 10‐year anniversary later this year, the IYMAS hasgrown to become Youth Work Ireland’s all‐island, flagship youth music educationalprogramme.

I’ve been the Director of the programme forthe last two years and have had the privilegeof working with young people, youth leadersand their communities across Ireland. It’sparticularly been a pleasure to see the work,commitment and collective supportparticipants give each other whileparticipating in the programme.

Each year the IYMAs programme is launchedwith local live selection nights and informationworkshops happening across Ireland. Thelaunch is also marked with the physical andworldwide digital release of the previousrecipient regions album release. This albumconsists of original songs by each of theperformers from that region’s team. Recordedin a professional studio, the album is mixedand mastered giving the young people thatfeature on the album a professional studioexperience. Last year’s album was recorded in

Irish YouthMusic

AwardsBarry Lennon

Youth Work Ireland

“It was a very good insight into how the music industryworks. It showed me the time and effort it takes to makea project of that scale work. It taught me what it's like to

be part of a team working on something important”Bill Davitt, Ossory Youth

This opportunity has most certainly changed my view ofmyself, of what I think I am capable of and how othersview me. I also got to experience this feeling of beingimportant, being a part of something bigger. I got to

meet people from all around the country and make newfriends. But most importantly I got to build my

confidence and realize how much more I am capable of.Laura Karaliute, Carlow Regional Youth Service


Temple Lane Studios where Kanye West, The Scriptand The Coronas have previously worked. As part ofthe 2014/2015 programme, Louth where named asthe recipient region for the IYMAs programme and forthe recently finished 2015/2016 programme Galwaywhere named as the recipient region for the IYMAs.

So just backing up a little, let me tell you about thelocal live selection nights. These events are hosted inyouth services, clubs and projects across Ireland andwe roughly host on average fifteen of these in thelead up to our National Day in the Aviva Stadium ‐which is the final event in the programme. At the locallive selection events performers from that regionperform at least one original song written bythemselves showcasing a melting pot of styles andgenres and acting as a way to express themselves byeither highlighting the issues affecting them or givingus a window into their world.

Each of the performers that take part in the regionalevent privately vote respectively for one act (i.e. aperformer) and one song that will represent thatregion. This process always results in the selection oftwo different performers and usually, an interestingmusical mix. For example, a song from an acousticperformer could get picked, but then a death metalband may have to perform it. The outcome is that twogroupings of young people have to interpret eachother’s music and find ways to collaborate.

The rest of the performers from the regional eventthen form the team around the selected act, taking on23 pre‐set jobs. The 23 jobs include PR writer, videomaker and guitar tech, etc. The idea is to show theyoung people that the music industry runs on an ecosystem of interconnecteddependencies and supports.Through the jobs the participantslearn new skills within the creativeand music industries, as well aslearning to work together. Theyoung people learn tocommunicate their own message,and gain an understanding ofwhat’s involved from start to finishin either putting on a concert intheir club or project.

After the local live selection eventsthe young people must set up aFacebook page to post evidence ofthe work they do for theprogramme. Their social media is

reviewedcoming up tothe NationalDay in theAvivaStadium inDublin tosee whatwork has been done.The selection of the IYMAswinner is fifty per cent based on thecollective team work in completing the 23 jobs andfifty per cent is determined by votes cast by anindustry panel at the National Day in the AvivaStadium. The vote is based mainly on performance. Inthe past this industry panel has consisted ofrepresentatives from IMRO, Warner Music Ireland,Song Music Ireland as well as young performerspreviously involved in the programme giving theprogramme direct links to the music industry withinIreland.

As part of further developing the educational elementof the programme we have developed strategicpartnerships with BIMM Dublin to showcase to youngpeople some of the third level opportunities for themto progress to. As well as showcasing this we also hosta large educational hub at the National Day in theAviva Stadium where lecturers from BIMM Dublinhost industry workshops. In the past, these workshopshave included bass, drum and song writingworkshops, to name just a few. Our educational hubis a vital part of the national day as it offersperformers, as well as other young people attendingthe event an opportunity to learn and mostimportantly speak to people actively involved in music


to access career options. We alsohost an industry panel withmusicians, label managers andperformers for young people toattend and ask questions and getan understanding of differentelements of the creative andmusic industries.

As mentioned above, the IYMAsprogramme has a definedstructure from the young peoplehosting the regional event intheir local club or project, tothen select a representing act, totaking on various jobs to createthe team and working on thesejobs collectively. We wantedyoung people to getaccreditation for theirinvolvement in the programmeand so IYMAs is now a ChallengePartner of Gaisce – ThePresident’s award with the youngpeople participating in the IYMAsable to use their involvement tocount towards their personal skillarea of their bronze award.

The final part of the programmeis the coming together of theregional teams at our NationalDay, hosted in the Aviva Stadiumthe last two years. This eventfeatures a programme of overthirty‐six young performers fromacross the island of Irelandplaying across two stages

performing a mix of genres. Wealso host a large educational huband information stands for youngpeople looking to getinformation about issuesaffecting them as well as musicindustry organisations. Inadvance of this event each yearwe do a call out to young peoplefor the Master of Ceremoniesposition. The requirements arethat this is a young person agedbetween 12 and 19 and that theymust record a short video ontheir phone or camera telling uswhy they want to present theevent and what they like aboutit. This gives the event a youthvoice and offers a young personthe opportunity to empowerthemselves by presenting at amassive national event.

At the National Day we have twomain awards given out, the firstis the IYMAs recipient awardwhich includes five daysprofessional recording in a studioto make an album of originaltracks from each of their teammembers, the physical andworldwide digital release of thisas well as associated pressopportunities and a trophy. Thesecond award is for the bestsongwriter, this is entirely judgedby our industry panel on the dayand the winner has the

opportunity to record their trackon the IYMAs album. We alsohave awards to reflect the workdone by each of the teammembers in the participatingregions such as PR, Drum Techand Video maker to reflect thejobs they have taken on.

The IYMAs involves over 340youth clubs and over 150projects in communities all overIreland and is rolled out throughYouth Work Irelands memberservices as well as through ourstrategic partner Youth ActionNorthern Irelands, in the north ofIreland. We see the local youthclub, or service, is at the heart ofthe community where peoplecome together to be part ofsomething important in theircommunity and see programmeslike this as a way to connectthese communities. To date over95,000 young people have takenpart and benefited from the IrishYouth Music Awards.

An Independent report by IMROshows music contributes €470million to the economy andsupports more than 11,510 jobsin Ireland – 9,030 direct, 2,480indirect. By further expandingand developing the IYMAsprogramme and other musiceducation programmes, we cannurture and support youngpeople to help them enter thisindustry linking the programmeto education and employmentopportunities as well asbenefiting the economy.

www.iymas.ie


I've always loved music but was always afraid to get upand perform or to even create music.

Last year I heard about the Irish Youth Music Awards(IYMAs) through Facebook. Scrolling down my news feedI stumbled upon a post that gave the date, time andvenue of the local live selection event for Louth. I wentto this and tried out! To my surprise I was selected asthe representing act for my home county Louth! We hada full team of amazing people who had similar interestsand we all got on like a house on fire. The whole lead upto the national day was the most exhausting, amazing,life changing experience in my life to date! I got toexplore my musical talent and work very hard to achievecertain goals. I done interviews with local news outlets. Iloved every second of it. When Team Louth won theIYMAs it was the best feeling in the world, and if I couldgo back and watch our reaction I think I would belaughing because we literally went crazy!

After the huge success came numerous requests forperformances, radio interviews, TV interviews,appearances etc.. I was living my dream! I got to recordan E.P in Temple Lane Recording Studios in Dublin withother members of Team Louth which was so amazing! Igot to meet the President of Ireland Michael D. Higginsand perform for him, and I feel incredibly honoured tohave gotten the chance to do so! This is only thebeginning of my career, I am working on my secondofficial E.P which should be finished later this year andmany more exciting times lie ahead for me. I'm currentlygetting ready to sit my Leaving Certificate exams somusic is at bay for the minute so I can focus on mystudies, but I still devote time to music. After school Ihope to go to college. I won't be studying music incollege as I would like a different career path to fall backon in the future.

Honestly, the IYMA's has been the best experience in mylife! It is life changing and I would definitely encourageall young people to get involved!

“The whole lead up to theNational Day was the mostexhausting, amazing, life

changing experience in my lifeto date!”

“The IYMAs has been thebest experience in my life”

Jake McArdle


Lithuanian Children and YouthCentre (LCYC) is a space whereyoung people can develop theirpotential, discover their talents andgain important skills for a successfullife. The Centre houses dozens ofdifferent activities for young people,including music, arts, sport clubs andsocial skills workshops. All theseactivities at LCYC provide opportunitiesfor young people to develop theirsocial and personal skills in a non‐formal and engaging way.

One of the main highlights of pastmonths at LCYC was a musicalperformance “The Ugly Duckling. AModern Story” that was a jointproject created by young people insinging and contemporary dancegroups. The musical follows the life

of a teenage girl Edouarde whomoves from a small town to live inthe capital together with hermother. New life in the city meetsEdouarde with hostility, sheexperiences bullying and harassmentfrom her classmates, teachers andother people until one day Edouardediscovers her true talent as asinger… The performance wasprepared as part of an anti‐bullyingcampaign in LCYC during the annualNational Action Week AgainstBullying. It was premiered duringthe National Conference on BullyingPrevention that took place in LCYCon the 17th of March.

“The Ugly Duckling. A Modern Story”is a musical project created byyoung people for young people with

a goal to tackle bullying as animportant social issue in Lithuaniansociety. According to the data fromrecent international surveys,Lithuania has the highest rate ofbullying among adolescents inEurope. Close to one third of school‐aged children (29%) have beenvictims of bullying and a quarter ofchildren (29%) admitted to havebullied others (WHO: HealthBehavior of School‐aged Children(HSBC) report from 2013/2014). Full Report can be downloaded from ‐http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/303438/HSBC‐No7‐Growing‐up‐unequal‐full‐report.pdf?ua=1 .

Bullying is also closely related toother health and behavior problems.“Bullying is a serious problem thataffects many young people in

A Musical AgainstBullying in Lithuania

Lithuania and we need to worktogether to stop it. Our musicalbrings up different stories fromreal life situations that manyyoung people face every day. Wehope the show will raise adiscussion about how people relateto each other”, says LaurynaRaudyte who played the main roleof Edouarde in “The Ugly Duckling”.

Besides its social relevance, “TheUgly Duckling” was an importantlearning experience for everyoneinvolved in its preparation. “It wasa real challenge for all the groupbut we all learned a lot about eachother and the management ofstage performances” – says AusraNorvilaite, singing teacher, theleader of a singing class at LCYC,who supported the group of youngpeople in directing the musical.“There were more than 40 singersand dancers involved on stage,with several more supporting theshow backstage. It was a practicalschool of cooperation,communication and timemanagement. Young people had to

make important decisions andtake‐up responsible tasksthemselves. Such experience andskills will definitely prove to beuseful in other situations in life” –Ausra explains.

At the moment, the group isplanning a tour around the countryto show their musical in schoolsand local communities. It aims tospread the message to take actionagainst bullying and show how

music and stage performance canbe used as a powerful tool ofcommunication and personaldevelopment.


www.lvjc.lt


Stuck Together is a two‐day festival and an annualevent, the biggest one that Samfés organizes everyyear in Laugardalshöll since 2004. The festival starts onFriday at 18.00 when young people arrive, there is aball/concert were the most popular musicians inIceland perform along with teenage bands and DJ´s.Then on Saturday the singing contest starts with soundchecks at 08.00 and the contest starts at 13.00. Thesinging contest is shown on live national television.

Stuck Together is not just a singing competition, to beable to perform on the big stage in Laugardalshöll youmust go through an elimination process, first in theyouth club and then in a regional competition. Only 30acts in total get the chance to go all the way to thefinals. The preparation process is long and a lot ofwork goes into every act. While few singers useplayback from a tape, we see every year an increase inteenagers who choose to play instruments fromacoustic guitars to full band set ups. Giving not onlysingers the opportunity to perform but also manyother musicians. Through the years this singingcompetition has been the first big break for ourteenagers to show their talent and many of ourbrightest stars today took their first step on that stage.Our winner last year for example just won Iceland gottalent.

Samfés starts to plan and organise the Stuck TogetherFestival in September for the event to take place in thebeginning of March. We send all youth clubs the first

information by email in the beginning of January. Theticket sales are regulated by the number of youngpeople in the youth club or municipality and also byhow many tickets had been ordered last year. Samféssends out to all members a portion of the total amountof tickets available, which is 4500. The rule of thumb isthat all youth clubs can send around 30% of the youngpeople in the club. That means we have around 30% ofall young people in Iceland at the age of 13‐16 yearsold attending our festival. The youth clubs need tobring staff that work in the youth club and the rule isone staff member for every 15 young people. All staffin the Festival need to be registered and active in theyouth club so that they know the young people andalso because of insurance reasons.

From the online registration Samfés makes a workschedule with specific tasks for all 350 staff membersfor both days. All staff wear special festival t‐shirts andidentification cards. We have a special safety guardwho takes care of all necessary safety preparations andtasks. Also we have nurses on duty both days, a specialteam for youth who have some minor problems andalso we have a special mobility team which also patrolsthe outside of the arena during the festival. Police arenotified about the festival. All youth clubs have toarrive together in a bus at a scheduled time and afterthe festival they all have to leave together with thebus. All tickets are numbered and we have a list ofwhat youth club has each numbers in case we have tocontact or notify staff or parents.

Stuck Together

FestivalVictor Berg Guðmundsson, Samfés


The Stuck Together Festival is thelargest youth entertainment festivalheld in Laugardalshöll in one of thelargest indoor sporting arenas inIceland with the capacity of 5,500people. The tradition is that thefestival is held on the first weekendin March. The youth council ofSamfés has a large role in thepreparations, deciding which bandsshould play and they manageeverything that has to do with sales.The last two years we have soldover 800 pizzas, soda and sweets forroughly €28,000. The ticket to thefestival costs €21 per person; manyyouth clubs have to travel a longdistance for the festival. On theSaturday we also have the Samfésping pong contest in the morning.

In the year 1991 the first Samfés ballwas held in Hitt Húsið where livebands played in the main hall and inanother hall DJ´s played. That yeararound 400‐500 young people werelucky to get tickets to this popularball. In 1992 the song contest was

held the first time in Glæsibær. Firstthere were three pre‐ contests thenthe finals were played live on radio.In 2012 these two events becamethe “Stuck Together” festival.

The Stuck Together festival iswithout doubt the largest drug‐freeevent of this kind held in Iceland.Each year about 4,500 adolescents,aged 13‐16 years old attend from allover the country.

The singing contest gives youngpeople the opportunity to appearon the big stage and sing in front oftheir peers of the country. Qualifiershave been carried out in all regionsand thirty entries selected forparticipation. It can therefore, trulybe said that the most promisingsingers in the country appear on theSamfés singing contest.

Links to learn more:Stuck‐Together 2015 ‐ https://vimeo.com/123417518Stuck‐Together promo 2015 ‐ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlWfLALdV6QAll the acts from the singing contest 2016 ‐ http://www.krakkaruv.is/samfesShort promo video ‐ https://vimeo.com/161492164Young people work with the professionals ‐ https://vimeo.com/161492164Stuck‐Together 2014 ‐ https://vimeo.com/89031520

www.samfés.is


Youth Cymru is a partner in a WorldWide Music Festival called the KayaFestival held in Margam Park, PortTalbot. It is a summer event,something our young people hadasked for. Therefore, we put downthe stakes and happily agreed tocreate, run and organise the “YouthZone” over the three‐day music andfood festival. The Youth Zone wassituated in front and to the side ofMargam House, a key location withfantastic music, workshops andorganisations. Between the pitchtent, workshop tent, youth stageand Neath Port Talbot Youth Servicethere was something for everyone.

This stage provides a challengingperformance opportunity for 138young music creators to developtheir unique voices. Their creativityneeds to be heard to be inspired,they need new experiences to growand feedback to develop; thisopportunity will provide this. Mixingwith other young music creators willallow inspiration, sharing of creativeideas and enhanced motivation.They will have a chance to gain workexperience, develop confidence andgrow as performers by experiencingreal audience feedback andappreciation. Being part of a widerworld music festival will allow themto experience other music genre,which will support their owncreative development allowing morediversity and increasing originality.

Young people gained invaluableexperience in what it takes to run afestival from event management,distributing programs, artist liaisonto hosting a stage. These skills aretransferrable to many employmentopportunities.

Youth Cymru Members offer uniqueopportunities foryoung people in Waleshere’s 3 examples:

The Andrew KentMusic Academy(AKMA)The Andrew Kent MusicAcademy was developed tofund projects that would givedisengaged young peopleliving in Swansea theopportunity to develop skillsin DJ‐ing, music productionand other various multimediaprojects. This enables them tohave something positive to doin the community and gainvaluable skills to increase theirmusical and multimediaopportunities. The overall aimof the academy is to supportand develop projects thatreduce the risk factors thatlead to youth crime, anti‐social behavior anddisengagement fromeducation. Our aim would beto support inclusion and equalopportunities and in doing so,enhance the protective factors thatpromote positive behavior.

The AKMA has proven to be afantastic ‘stepping stone’ for youngpeople. It has engaged a largeamount of young people and hasgiving them access to knowledgeand equipment that is very rare tocome by which has led many youngpeople to stay engaged in thisprovision and then move on to seekfurther education, apprenticeships

and careers in music andmultimedia. In September 2014, sixAKMA young people moved on tocollege, each accessing a course thatwill enhance skills already learnt. www.akmaswansea.co.uk

Young Promoters NetworkWe've been helping young peopleget their first footsteps in thecreative industries since 2010; fromaspiring promoters, stage managers,graphic designers, photographers,

Kaya FestivalYouth Cymru Zone

Melanie Ryan


videographers and many more.We've played an integral part inhelping them shape theirfutures and helping bringtheir ideas to life. We'vealso helped hundreds ofmusicians with their firstgigs, obtain high profiletouring show supportslots and getting onfestival bills alongsidedeveloping them asartists; which as a directresult spawned the FortéProject!

The project has beenhallmarked as innovative andcollaborative by its very nature;there is no model like it whichtargets young people in Wales. Theenthusiasm and interaction of youngpeople has encouraged its growth.The project is both creative andreactive to its locality ‐ in turncontributing to the growth of themusic industry in South Wales. Theproject up‐skills young people anddevelops transferable skills inindividuals; provides platforms foryoung emerging talent; andencourages networkingopportunities across the region.

Everything that the Young PromotersNetwork has ever done germinates

from a single idea! It takes one#lightbulbmoment to be switched oninside your head and the possibilitiescan be endless!www.youngpromotersnetwork.com

3GS/Georgetown YouthClubTHE Merthyr’s Got Talentcompetition has proved such asuccess in its first two years that it isnow set to become an annual event.THE Merthyr’s Got Talentcompetition has proved such a

success in its first two years that it isnow set to become an annual event.

For the second year running, thenight gave talented youngsters

aged between 11 and 25 thechance to showcase theirdancing, singing, andmusical theatre skills to asell‐out audience atMerthyr Tydfil LeisureCentre. Run in partnership

with Merthyr Youth Serviceand the 3G’s Development

Trust, it now looks set tobecome a regular part of Youth

Work Week.

Lee Davies, community developmentworker for the 3G’s DevelopmentTrust, said the night was a hugesuccess.

“With all the bad publicity Merthyrhas received over the past fewmonths, this was a fantasticadvertisement for the rich vein oftalent that is within Merthyr,” he said.Around 70 entrants performed to acrowd of almost 200 on the night.

What is the Forté Project?Introducing the Forté Project, the exciting new music development scheme hopingto uncover and support the next bright young things in music emerging from SouthWales.

Brought to you by the minds behind the Young Promoters Network, in co‐ordinationwith SONIG Youth Music, Arts Connect and Arts Council of Wales, the Forté Projectaims to take ten emerging artists from regions which span across the areas of RhonddaCynon Taff, Caerphilly, Merthyr Tydfil, Bridgend and the Vale of Glamorgan, collectivelyknown as Arts Connect.

The ten chosen artists will work alongside assigned industry mentors who willsupport the artist on their journey at a critical point in their musical career. Theproject is centred around key creative and career development support areas whichwill further improve their chances of achieving successful, long‐term professionalcareers. The artists will gain experience from song‐writing workshops, industryrelated seminars, signposted opportunities, rehearsal space, recording sessions,bespoke audience development support and a range of unique live opportunitiesthroughout the year. For further information please email: [email protected]

www.youthcymru.org.uk

IYMAS 2016 ACTS

32 THIRTEENDonegal Youth Service CURTIS WALSH

Youth Work Ireland Laois

ARIELYANI, Newry

THE SILHOUETTESYouth Work Ireland Tipperary

SAM NEWCOMBWaterford & Sth Tipperary

MIKAELA DOYLECarlow RYS

EMILY BOYNESt. John Bosco (Drimnagh)

CORINA & CIARABallymun Regional Youth Resource

KOJAKOssory Youth

REDHOUSEYANI Belfast

DISTANT YOUTHLimerick Youth Service

JANAJYouth Work Ireland Galway

THE IVCDYS Youth Work Ireland

THE MELADIESCrosscare DRYS

KEITH KERWANFinglas Youth Resource Centre


“The programme hashelped me and manyothers overcome our

hurdles and motivatedus to believe in all thepossibilities our music

careers hold.”

Youth Work Ireland Galway havetaken part in the Irish Youth MusicAwards (IYMAs) since 2014. Overthe past few years, dozens ofyoung people have been a part ofTeam Galway and it has been clearthroughout the impact that thisprogramme has had on variousaspects of their lives. They havegained knowledge, improved skills,socialised and had access toopportunities that they would nothave known about previously.

“Participating in the IYMAs hasopened up so many opportunitiesfor me socially and has made memore passionate about music ingeneral, because I got to meet

likeminded young people.”

The journey of Team Galway in theIYMAs 2016 began on January 24thin the Nun’s Island Theatre inGalway City. Team Galway consistsof fifteen talented, motivated andamazing young people from allover Galway. Out of this fifteen,one third had been involved withIYMAs Team Galway in previousyears and a further third hadfollowed the progress of Team

Galway in 2015. Each participantbrought something different to theexperience; knowledge, skills,enthusiasm and creativity inabundance to name but a few.

Team Galway met weekly (andmore often during the schoolbreaks) in either the Galway 2020hub or Youth Work Ireland Galway’soffice in Galway city. Outside ofthe meetings, we were in constantcontact through Facebook groups,chats, text messages, Snapchat…any way we could be in contact,we were! There was always taskswe wanted to complete in ourmeetings, but a large part of TeamGalway meetings was the socialisingand team building. Every meetingwe would do activities and games,as well as having a sing song and agroup jamming session. Yes, themeetings went a bit longer becauseof this but the atmosphere andfeeling within Team Galway as aresult was worth every minute!

“I really admire the way theIYMAs is structured, as it focuses

on the group/team and reallyshows you how to work togetherwith people. Everyone is viewedas equal members of the team,

which differentiates it from othermusic and talent competitions

which solely focus on theperformer themselves and not

based on any effort or innovationfrom other young people. And theyoung people lead it, so it is down

to us to get the work done.”

When bigger tasks had to be done,such as video planning, fundraisingplanning, image planning andphotography, all Team Galwaymembers had the opportunity toinput during meetings and groupdiscussions – whether it was justhaving their say, volunteering forjobs or going crazy with face paint.Even with smaller tasks, membersof Team Galway were constantlytalking and helping each other outin whatever way they could, andlearning from each other. Theyoung people got to expressthemselves and learn skills in areaslike photography and video, videoediting, image design and creation,stage prep and technician work,promotion and PR work; bothonline and in the media; as well asplanning, communication andteamwork skills. The IYMAs is ayouth led music project, so all ofthe work done was led andplanned by the young people ofTeam Galway.

Being part of the IYMAs projecthas helped members of TeamGalway with their self‐confidenceand belief in their abilities, as wellas offering them the opportunityto socialise with likeminded youngpeople.

“It's amazing how open everyoneis and how every individual can

release their creative spirit in sucha comfortable accepting

environment. I've gained so muchinsight and confidence in myself,

From Nun’s Island to the

Aviva… and beyondThe journey of Team Galway through the

Irish Youth Music Awards ProgrammeRachel Maher, Youth Work Ireland Galway

my music, and learned that a lotof young people face the samestruggle as I do regarding self‐doubt towards their passion.”

Over the years of being involved inthe IYMAs, there have been somany opportunities, changes andoutcomes for the young people ofGalway.

o Two members of Team Galway were presenters for the IYMAs 2015 and Youth Factor 2015.

o The young people have gotten the opportunity to connect and network with other young musicians, become involved with other youth projects as participants and leaders, and have the opportunity to go on international youth exchanges, all because of the IYMAs.

o Team Galway have been involved with Galway 2020; meeting in their hub and supporting the bid for Culture Capital 2020; the Galway Samaritans; providing music for their

Sams40 event in Galway city; and will take part in an international festival in Northern Ireland. They have been interviewed for Irish TV, various radio programmes and have had articles in newspapers about the work they are doing, all because of the IYMAs.

o The young people in Team Galway have had the opportunity to perform for their peers, family and the wider community with gigs in various venues in Galway city, county and beyond; some of whom had never played outside of their bedroom before taking part in the IYMAs.

o Team Galway members have furthered their education relating to the music industry, enrolling in PLC and college courses, taking part in workshops for song writing and other areas relating to the music industry, all because of the IYMAs.

“As a participant, I would nothave been able to meet so many

young people with similarinterests without it. I learned so

much valuable information aboutthe music industry from it.”

The IYMAs has helped the youngpeople of Galway grow with theirpassion of music, as well as gainskills and experience in areas thatyou may not experience in atraditional school setting. As partof the Facebook team for theIYMAs, one job is to “acquirefriends” for the Facebook page.And while one person had this jobon Team Galway, all young peoplecompleted it. Team Galway is notjust a group of people workingtogether, we are friends. And ifthat were to be the only benefit oftaking part in the IYMAs, then forthe young people in Galway, it isworth it.

“My best friends these days arepeople that I have met during theproject.”

The National Youth Council Art'sProgramme is having their annualsummer school in NUI, Galwayfrom the 8th to the 10th of Junethis year. The summer schooloffers training for youth workers invarious art forms. This year theexpertise on offer includes songwriting with community musicianJulie Tiernan, drumming with BrianFleming and prop and costumemaking with Caoimhe Dunne,formerly of Bui Bolg, street theatrecompany.

This year's school, The Big Projectis particularly ambitious asparticipants will work collectivelyover three days to create a streettheatre event. On the first dayeveryone will get together andselect a theme, they will work withtheir chosen tutor to create asong, a piece of music andcostume/props for the final event.Participants will learn about theirchosen skill in addition to havingan experience of working on alarge scale arts event.

If you are working with youngpeople and would like to extendyour arts expertise or learn aboutsong writing for the first time, thisis the training for you according toNiamh Dillon, project officer atNYCI. She points out that thesummer school is an opportunityfor you to take time out from yourwork, network with other colleagues

from across the country and bereinvigorated with new skills andideas. She goes on to mention thatthere has been high praise for thetraining in the past,

"I would just like to thank you againfor such a great experience. It wasa wonderful few days and I'm sopleased I got to meet and workwith a wide variety of people. I feelso much more confident now withmy approach to working withyoung people."

"A creative space with like‐mindedpeople. Very positive, welcomingand accepting environment."Comments from participants fromsummer school 2015

“I would encourage everyone whothinks this training might work forthem to give it a go. We work hardto ensure all participants at thesummer school are made feel

welcome and a supportive, funenvironment ensures over the 3days”, Niamh Dillon.

The booking site is currently openand can be accessed atwww.youtharts.ie

She goes on to say, "if you areinterested in the arts, do check outour website, we have an arts blogthat has lots of excellentcontributions from artists, youthworkers and young people on theirviews, insights and expertise in thefield. Moreover, we have a numberof new training initiatives thatmight be of interest and someexciting new projects planned forthe autumn. We would welcomeany questions or enquiries. I lookforward to hearing from you.

Niamh Dillon (e) [email protected]

(t): 01‐4784122www.nyci.ie


There will bemusic

and song this summer

in GalwayNiamh Dillon, NYCI

The Big Music Project, provides youngpeople with the skills and experienceto forge a career in the music andcreative industries.

Established in 2014, The Big Music Project is apartnership between Global, the media andentertainment group, and UK Youth the largestnational charity for the youth sector and currentlyfunded until 2018.

With our partners Youth Cymru, Youth Action NorthernIreland and Youth Scotland this phase of the projectwe are creating 80 new Youth Hubs across the UK,which provide music‐based learning opportunities for14‐18 year olds, bringing the total number to 110.Young project Champions will be appointed at eachlocation to deliver a music project for the youngpeople in their area.

The Big Music Project also delivers paid internshipsand work experience in the music industry across theUK, with 30 percent of the workexperienceopportunitiesreserved for thosealready involvedwith the projectand the rest opento other youngpeople across theUK. We also giveyoung peopleaccess toemployabilityworkshops andmentorships aswell as the chance

to perform in talent showcases. The website is aprinciple source of advice and a portal for entry levelcareers in the music industry. It will also now feature aseries of 45‐minute live‐streamed master classes led bya music or creative professional.

At this phase, there is a strong focus on supportingyoung people from disadvantaged backgrounds whichcreates even more career opportunities in the musicand creative industries and expands the project intomore UK cities.

“Since we launched The Big Music Project two yearsago, we have provided thousands of young people withhands on careers experience and the opportunity todevelop skills to increase employability. In the last yearalone more than half of internships secured throughThe Big Music Project resulted in full‐time paidemployment. This substantial grant from the BigLottery Fund will allow us to develop the project,reaching even more disadvantaged young peopleacross the UK to improve their chances of a career inthe music and creative industries.” Emma Bradley, Director of Global Goodness

Young people continueto find it difficult toaccess employment,despite rising levels ofacademic attainment.The Big Music Projectwas created to informthem about theincredible range ofopportunities available inthe music industry, fromhairdressing and stagebuilding to graphicdesign and catering.Through communitybased youth groups and


THE BIG MUSICPROJECTMaddie Dinwoodie, UK Youth

inspiring national events, young people from a diverserange of backgrounds are empowered to developpractical life skills that will equip them for the world ofwork.

“To date we have worked with over 14,000 youngpeople across England, Scotland, Wales and NorthernIreland. We are excited to be able to work with at least5500 more in this next phase of The Big Music Project.”Anna Smee, CEO, UK Youth

“Through TBMP I have gained a much betterunderstanding of the music industry. I have also grownin confidence and become a much better performer.”The Hut, Wakefield Champion (16)

“I feel more confident in myself and the project has alsoimproved my self‐esteem. I would like to go touniversity when I have completed my qualifications atRathbone Training through an access course. I hope tobecome a successful business man and achieve all thegoals I have dreamed of, which Rathbone Training andgreat projects like this are helping me with.”Oldham, Rathbone Champion (19)

The AKMA has made Michael the person he is today, somuch so that he stated if the AKMA did not exist he“would not have a good job, would not be inrelationship I’m in now, would not have a house –simply would not have this good life I have now.”AKMA Champion (20)

“I have felt so inspired by the journey that I have beenon through The Big Music Project and I want tocontinue to highlight issues for the deaf community andcontinue to teach sign language to people who maynever have considered that it’s something that it mightbe useful for them to learn. The support that I havereceived from Big Music staff and also the otherChampions in the group has been amazing and hasbeen the main reason why I have been so inspired tospread this message. Without their encouragement andsupport, this would not be something that I am soproud of now.”Belfast Champion, Rainbow Factory Music Studio (18)

21

www.ukyouth.org


Nathan Jones, a 19‐year‐old youngman from West Belfast, iscurrently preparing for theopening night of his firstprofessional theatre production inThe Grand Opera House – one ofBelfast’s biggest and mostsuccessful theatres. Nathan’sjourney to get to this point is agreat example of how positiveyouth work practice can empoweryoung people and increase theiremployability skills.

Nathan started out attendingYouthAction’s Techie School, tolearn skills in technical theatre.Nathan was an avid performer, butwas interested in expanding hisknowledge and experience of thewider world of theatre and thecreative industries. Straight away,he knew that he had become apart of something unique.

“I was really surprised at howfriendly everybody was. You feltlike you were part of a big family,and you were able to have funwhile learning new skills andmeeting new people.” Nathanthrew himself into learningtechnical theatre skills and tookadvantage of the manyopportunities that were offeredthrough YouthAction’s school ofperforming arts, The RainbowFactory.

In the Summer of 2014, Nathanjoined the technical team forRainbow Factory’s Summermusical Sunshine on Leith. Thiswas an experience that would becrucial to his development both asa young man and as a professional.“I was a bit surprised to be trustedwith so much responsibility,” hesaid, reflecting on his firstexperience as part of a technicalteam of a big production. “I wasmade stage manager, and theresponsibility allowed me to growand thrive – I was learning on thejob, which was amazing, and thesupport I received from the youthworkers allowed me to do the jobreally well. I made mistakes, butthese were never a big deal. Wealways took the time to reflect onwhat’s been going well and whatcould be better. So I was learningfrom my mistakes, and withoutreally knowing it, I was learninghow important it was to takeownership of my actions and myresponsibilities.”

Nathan has always emphasisedthat the personal support was asimportant as the professionalsupport – allowing him to grow asa young man, rather than just aperformer, technician, or stagemanager. “Being on a technicalteam of a production that sizemeans you are busy all the time.

You wouldn’t believe how muchwork goes on behind the scenes –especially in the week leading upto the show opening. But the youthworkers always made time andspace to ask about you, how yourday has been, how things are athome, what’s going on in your life.It might seem like a small thing,but it meant that I knew I wasreally valued as a person, as wellas being an important member ofthe team. It also allowed me togrow relationships that are still sopositive and important to me tothis day.”

Nathan continued to be involvedin Techie School, taking chanceswhere he could to be involved in avariety of productions from gignights and pantomimes toshowcases and issue‐basedtheatre. He had a variety of roles,including stage manager andlighting operator, and also workedwith Rainbow Factory’s Front ofHouse team.

After being involved in Summer2015’s musical Calamity Jane, as aperformer (as well as gettinginvolved with the productionteam), Nathan found himselflooking for work, and wassuccessful in his application for apaid internship at YouthAction as atrainee technical theatre assistant.


Nathan’sStory

A case study of youth work through music programmesincreasing young people’s

employability prospects Gerard Hughes

YouthAction Northern Ireland

“It was the perfect opportunity forme at the perfect time,” he said.“Having volunteered a lot, I feltlike I was ready to step into theworld of professional work, andthis was like my dream job.”The internship allowed Nathan touse the skills he learned throughhis experiences with YouthAction,providing technical support forshows, events and conferences,while growing as a youngprofessional. “The support wasalways there, and I was alwayslearning. My technical theatreskills kept growing and growing,but I also learned skills like how toconduct myself in a professionalenvironment. I learned office skills– word processing and filing. Ilearned organisational skills, likemanaging a workload withindesignated hours, returning phonecalls, and even things like keeping

on top of my emails. These mayseem like small things, but theyhave allowed me to grow as aprofessional worker, rather thanjust a young technician.”

The post also gave Nathan theopportunity to undertake relevanttraining. “I did stuff like genie lifttraining, child protection training,health and safety and manualhandling training, as well astraining in sign language. Theseare things that still help me everyday and will always be relevant tothe work that I want to do.”Now Nathan is using the skills andexperiences he gained throughYouthAction programmes to excelin the world of work. “The show Iam about to perform in at theOpera House is like a dream cometrue. And to be honest, it wouldn’thave been possible without

YouthAction. The support andguidance I received helped megrow into the confident andcreative person I am today, and Iam so thankful for it.”

Nathan continues to be asinvolved as he can in YouthActionprogrammes while excelling in theworld of work.


Rainbow FactoryYouthAction’s Rainbow Factory is our in‐house school of performing arts, withapprox 450 young people taking partevery week in classes that includedance, drama, musical theatre, vocalcoaching, technical theatre, front ofhouse skills, and youth governance.Young people can get involved in asmuch or as little as suits them, so thereis something for everybody, even if youaren’t an avid performer. Throughoutthe year, Rainbow Factory will produce anumber of high‐quality productions, forexample: a Summer musical, Christmaspantomime, devised issue‐basedtheatre, Open Space festivals (whereanyone can come to perform anythingfrom contemporary dance, to deviseddrama and stand‐up comedy), and gignights. Other productions often includea Spectrum festival, that celebratesidentity and cultural diversity,contributing performances to theOutburst Queer Arts festival, andworking with the Royal ShakespeareCompany on their Open Stages initiative.

With the support of our skilled artistsand youth workers, Rainbow Factory’syoung people are given a platform togrow and showcase the skills they learnthroughout the year by having an

important role in these big productions.As well as the cast being made up ofyoung people, all of our technicians,stage crew and front of house crew thatrun these productions are all youngpeople made up from the number ofinitiatives that run across RainbowFactory.

Anybody who is interested in gettinginvolved in Rainbow Factoryperformances can submit an onlineapplication for an audition atwww.youthaction.org, or [email protected] for more info,or on 02890240551.

Techie SchoolTechie School is housed withinYouthAction’s Rainbow Factory, andruns every Wednesday night in ourstudio theatre space. Young people fromall across Belfast and beyond cometogether to learn practical skills intechnical theatre, like rigging lights,setting up and running microphones,mixing soundtracks, stage management,programming lighting sequences etc. Aswell as these hard skills, the youngpeople are also carefully trained in softskills like teamworking, commitment,personal responsibility and caring foreach other. These skills all cometogether and become refined under anintense atmosphere when the youngpeople get the opportunity to showcaseand develop these skills during ourproductions throughout the year.To get involved in Techie School, or formore info [email protected] or on02890240551.

www.youthaction.org


How it WorksTollcross is a vibrant community, butone struggling with serious deprivation,designated a Regeneration OutcomeArea in the most deprived 5% inScotland S01003228 (Scottish IndexMultiple Deprivation 2012). Thisdeprivation manifests in high levelsof poverty, anti‐social behaviour,isolation, family fragmentation, andunemployment according toBarnardo's Pace project Glasgow(2013). According to the ScottishNeighbourhood Statistics (2012) thepercentage of families on deprivedincomes and claiming benefit inTollcross is double the nationalaverage. As a result family and singleparents are unable to give theiryoung people the fun, educationaland life changing experiences thatother young people from moreaffluent areas enjoy.

For over 140 years, Tollcross YMCAhas provided recreational facilitieswithin a safe environment thatpromotes educational and socialactivities for the people of Tollcrossand Glasgow’s east end. TollcrossYMCA aims to promote citizenshipand develop community spirit byencouraging people to consider their

environment and develop activitiesthat support people to reach theirpotential, by overcoming barriersthat would normally exclude them,resulting in a more connected andresilient community. At TollcrossYMCA, their volunteer project is freshand innovative, allowing youngpeople to make contributions to theirlocal community, to enhance their CVand future prospects. Many of theiryouth workers started out asvolunteers. As a volunteer, there area range of activities and programmesto get involved with from deliveringschool programmes and communityprojects to taking a group of youngpeople on a trip to London or Europe.

The ModelYouth Scotland is the national networkfor youth clubs and groups acrossScotland. We are the largest non‐uniformed youth organisation inScotland, delivering quality youthwork programmes, information,resources, training and support tocommunity‐based youth work. YouthScotland’s model of The Big MusicProject, allows community basedyouth groups and organisations theopportunity to establish as well assupport existing music projects

across the country, to support youngpeople to realise their potential andgain accreditation, meet new friendsand experience new opportunitiesthat would not normally be availableto them and their local community.Working in partnership with TollcrossYMCA is a fantastic example of this.

Tollcross YMCA have been involvedwith TBMP since the project waslaunched back in April 2014, wherethey recruited ten music championsfrom their current music programme,Music Drop In and Aspire. How theymanaged to sustain their interestthroughout the project was to createa portfolio of work wherebychampions and participants learnednew skills, gained qualifications andexperiences and use it as a platformto secure employment, furthereducation opportunities and fundingfor their own music based projects.Only one of the original tenchampions did not remain with theproject and that was because hesigned a management deal with acompany based down in Liverpooland was then contracted not to beinvolved in any other music basedactivity such as TBMP.

Tollcross YMCA was asked to recruit

The Big Music Project (TBMP)Tollcross YMCA & Youth Scotland

Fiona Muir


an additional five champions whichthey did by using an approach thatTollcross YMCA employs to deliver allyouth programme activity where byyoung people promote and engagethe service they provide to otheryoung people. This is achieved bygetting the young people who arecurrently involved to promote TBMPinto secondary, primary schools, localyouth clubs and community eventsetc. The youth committee over seesall activity and programme content toensure it remains youth focused andmaintains legitimacy and this is howthey recruited the five additionalchampions for The Big Music Hubwho possess the personal qualitiesneeded to engage this programme toothers. The young people themselvespromote and sell the idea and marketTBMP at events to other young peopleas part of the programme model.

The Projects StructureExamples of Work:“How we engaged with the widercommunity was by TBMP championsand its participants, communityvolunteers, youth workers, boardmembers and young people fromTollcross YMCA creating a new TBMPmusic project. What was specialabout the project is that wecollaborated with African musiciansmade up from a number ofCommonwealth countries and this hasallowed local children and youngpeople to explore the musical cultureof African Commonwealth countriesand work towards creating somethingentirely their own, through uniquesongs and videos which were part ofthe build up to the CommonwealthGames and its legacy. Local youngpeople who have never written a songbefore or edited a video haverecorded a number of songs andvideos to celebrate the CommonwealthGames. The songs in particular werepromoted and released just as thegames began. The teenagers atTollcross YMCA worked with musiciansfrom Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria, SouthAfrica, Democratic Republic of Congoand Sierra Leone to create songs

which promoted a positive messageto other young people and the BMEgroups within the east end of Glasgow”.

“Two of the music championsdiscovered that not only were theytalented musicians, but through TBMPthey discovered how to create theirown community music projects andlearned how to fund them via thefunding workshops that TollcrossYMCA provided and then created theirown organization called Urban SoundsScotland. Another Champion calledGideon created Vessel Music anddeveloped this project after hisparticipation on Tollcross YMCA’s TBMPhub and learned how to deliver andmanage a community project. Thesethree champions have learned how todelegate a team, project manage andproblem solve and this has given themmore confidence and ambition toachieve even bigger goals than theythemselves first thought wereunachievable.”

OutcomesAll champions work towards theirYouth Achievement Awards, Duke ofEdinburgh and Saltire Awards, allsupported by a dedicated youth worker.By completing the YAA helped thechampions to be goal orientated andsee that progression as the yeardeveloped which helped to maintainmotivation. The same principal wasused when collating the hours fortheir Saltire Awards.

Other outcomes of the project haveincluded the following:

‐ Tollcross YMCA organizes BBC Radio Scotland to interview the champions about the two songs they have recorded for the Commonwealth Games.

‐ Tollcross YMCA organize STV to interview champions about the two commonwealth songs recorded for the Commonwealth Games.

‐ Tollcross Recordings start recording session every Friday night. Hear Glasgow deliver music training in the Glasgow concert halls for champions and participants.

‐ Champions make up new community project called East End Beats to record a song for theCommonwealth Games.

‐ Champions are treated to the BBCBig Weekend thanks to BBC

Scotland‐ Champions participate in a music

video about their experiences for the Big Music Project Roadshow in Glasgow.

‐ Take 15 champions to play live at the Big Music Project with Chase and Status and the Brit Band.

‐ Participants and champions test out new music app for a companythat was at last month’s music event in Glasgow.

‐ Champion signs record deal with JUMMP records.

‐ TBMP Volunteer Arno talks about music in Africa in Cardinal Winning High Champion.

‐ Nicole attends Britten’s got talentaudition and makes it through to second stage in Glasgow.

‐ We help Daniel Campbell launch On The Beat a deep house record label

‐ We supported 5 of our championsto enter the Brits Music Competition.

‐ John and Gody both Champions create USS and release promo video called Moby's Story.

‐ Deliver TBMP gig in Glasgow with young people performing.

‐ Support John and Gody to performlive at the O2 arena and at the Youth Scotland Big Skills weekend.

Since the completion of phase 2,TBMP Champions for Tollcross havegone into further employment andemployability (some examples aboveof projects that have been launched),as well as Shaun Quinn, who is a keysupport worker now for TBMP, once achampion in phase 1. Through TBMP,employability opportunities havecome about due to positivepartnership working, networkingevents and activeyouth workers. Afantastic project tobe involved with!

www.youthscotland.org.uk


Mental wellbeing is really important....to us all! Recognising the need for new evidence basedapproaches to building young people’s mental healthYouthAction Northern Ireland (YANI) has developed anew model entitled ‘LIFEMAPS – the youth workjourney to build mental health.’

Building on research from the positive psychology fieldthe LIFEMAPS model has been developed todemonstrate how youth work approaches can buildyoung people’s mental health and well‐being.

Practicing the Happiness FormulaThe model is based on the happiness formula,developed through scientific research, which arguesthat a large part of our positive mental health can bebuilt through actions, skills and attitudes, and fosteredthrough positive relationships.

The formula is ......Happiness (H) = S + C + V

S is Set Point: This recognises that some of us tend tobe naturally more optimistic or pessimistic. If a bigevent happens, this may change hugely, but it will soonreturn to our individual set point. This adds 50%towards our ‘happiness’.

C is Circumstances: This recognises that ourcircumstances can change, e.g. bereavement, gettingmarried; losing a job; while other circumstances areoutside our control, e.g. age or sex. This only adds 10%towards our ‘happiness’.

V is Voluntary Actions: These are activities and thinkingthat we can choose and practice. These can help us feelgood and do well. This adds 40% towards our ‘happiness’.

Like physical fitness, you can’t just read a book aboutmental health and expect your well being to beboosted. Instead you can develop skills, thoughts andactions that help your mental health and well‐being.

The model has emerged from Right Here Fermanagh, apartnership of nine organisations, led by YouthAction NIand funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and MentalHealth Foundation.

Developed by Simon Ward, educational psychologist,and Liz McArdle, YouthAction NI, it is has been primarilydeveloped for young people aged 10 to 25 but isrelevant to us all as healthy practitioners and adults

What is LIFEMAPS?LIFEMAPS is an acronym for eight interlinked conceptswhich describe a full approach to developing positivemental health. These include;

L for Learning: This is about accepting that failure is anecessary part of learning rather than a negativeconsequence, which enables us to find the courage totry new things, build resilience and approach challengeswithout the fear of failure.

I for Intrinsic Motivation: This is about finding activitiesthat we really enjoy and are interested in, and have aninternal motivation to pursue because they bring us asense of personal reward and pride, and contributepositively to our mental wellbeing.

F for Flow: This is finding activities that fully immerseand engross us, causing us to lose ourselves in the moment,which can give us a break from negative emotions andbuild positive feelings of achievement in their place.

E for Emotions: This is balancing out the negativeemotions with positive ones; not by forcing positivity,but by being open to new experiences including peopleand ideas to help us build a wider range of positiveemotions like joy, inspiration, hope, awe and serenity.

M for Mindfulness: This is promoting a positive outlookby taking time to notice small, everyday moments thatbring us pleasure in order to bring balance to our mindsand counteract the negative moments.

LIFEMAPSA Model

of MentalHealth

Caroline Redpath, YANI

A for Accomplishments: This is building self esteemthrough accomplishing personal goals, and realisingthat life isn't about winning or losing, but more aboutlearning and growing, and that small milestones pavethe way to big successes.

P for Purpose: This is finding a sense of meaning in theworld outside yourself by finding ways to help others,through small acts of kindness to your friends andfamily, volunteering or joining a cause you arepassionate about.

S for Social Connections: This is building our sense ofbelonging and community by building strongconnections with others through school, youth group,work, family and friends. This satisfies our desire to bevalued, cherished and listened to, which is critical tomental health.

Resources Available

More information and resources are detailed in twopublications that can be downloaded fromYouthAction’s website www.youthaction.org. The firstof these is a guide detailing the background andevidence for the model. The second is a resourcebooklet detailing a range of exercises that demonstrateeach element of the model, all of which can be easilyincorporated into youth work practice by workers,volunteers and young leaders.

A young people’s worksheet is also available that canbe used/adapted to help young people document whatactions they will take to build their mental health.

Sharing the LearningYouthAction have now been given the opportunity todisseminate the model through support from theYouthCouncil for Northern Ireland ( Outreach Initiative)focusing on emotional health and well‐being. Thefunding is enabling YouthAction to work with theirvoluntary sector partners, the Northern Ireland YouthForum, Young Farmers’ Clubs of Ulster and PublicAchievement to deliver training to integrate LIFEMAPSinto their work with young people.

Youth Council support is also providing the opportunityto host a number of youth‐led events as well as a‘Suitcase Theatre’ production which will be performedin a number of venues across Northern Irelandincluding the border counties.

Delivering on outcomesThe model is also helping to deliver on one of the sixoutcomes emerging from the implementation of thecurrent policy for youth work, Priorities for Youth,notably the ‘increased health and well being of youngpeople.’ The model has also the potential to contributeto one of the outcomes, ‘active and healthy, withpositive physical and mental wellbeing’ detailed inBetter Outcomes Brighter Futures: the National PolicyFramework for Children and Young People 2014 – 2020’.

For further information pleasecontact Caroline Redpath atYouthAction N.I. 02890240551or [email protected]

www.youthaction.org


Irish Youth Music Awards Live Album Now Available ForDownload as pay what you want. Album features a track byeach of this year’s programmes representing acts recorded

live at the Aviva Stadium. Download or stream it now at iymas.ie

Irish Youth Music AwardsLive Album 2016

OUTNOW

scene magazine, issue 84, may 2016

Documents