Laura Brewis talks about the impact of the Young Musicians Project.
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00:00 Okay then Laura, if you can just tell me a bit about the Young Musicians Project and the rationale behind it please.
00:05 Yeah, so Young Musicians Project is a project which does pretty much what it says on the tin.
00:12 It's for 13 to 19 year olds who want to either start making music or make music with other young people.
00:19 We meet in a studio in central Sunderland and the sessions are led by professional musicians
00:28 and we basically support young people to start writing songs, to develop musical skills
00:34 and then if they want to, to take their first steps towards gigging and recording and producing their work.
00:40 I'm guessing for a lot of the youngsters who come along here, they simply wouldn't get the chance to access the facilities and the instruments that you've got here.
00:47 Yeah, absolutely. I mean we work from a professional studio so there's an amazing amount of technical equipment and instruments.
00:57 It's quite expensive to get into music, you know, lessons are expensive, instruments are expensive, all of that kind of stuff.
01:04 And more and more we know more young people in Sunderland just can't have access to cultural opportunities because of the cost.
01:13 So these sessions are, you know, they're free to access so anybody can come along.
01:19 I understand a number of youngsters who came along here have actually started to forge successful careers in the music industry?
01:25 Yeah, absolutely. So Tommy Smith, who's the new sort of superstar from Sunderland, he came along and two members of his band, Dylan and Fraser,
01:35 were kind of like core original members of Young Musicians Project.
01:39 So it's like absolutely amazing to see them off touring nationally and nationally now.
01:46 And also Faith Van Tarro, who unfortunately recently passed on, she came as a young songwriter as well and it was amazing to see her have the success that she had being signed to Dave Stewart's label.
02:01 It's also, as I'm aware, about developing youngsters' confidence in their social skills as well?
02:06 Yeah, absolutely. I mean really Young Musicians Project sort of supports young people where they're at.
02:13 So some young people come along wanting to be musicians and want to develop those skills,
02:19 but some young people come because they want to make friends, because they want to meet young people who like the same things they do and who want to, you know, increase their confidence.
02:30 So we often see young people who aren't going to be musicians in the future, but just who love to play, really kind of develop personally and socially from coming to the sessions.