A youth programme in Shieldfield have worked with an artists to create music about the area they live in. The youth programme allows kids from across the area to have a place to go after school. We visited the shieldfield youth programme to hear about their new songs.
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00:00 Growing up in Shieldfield it's a lot of fun, sometimes the drama it's never done, there's
00:06 more for us, there's a fight to be won, keeping my head up when success comes, it feels like
00:11 a prison I need to escape. I need to work hard to change my fate, more happiness and
00:16 less drama, and more opportunity to get through the trauma.
00:21 The Shieldfield Youth Programme launched in 2021 and they have been working with nearly
00:26 80 young people to give them a space to come together. Recently the young people got involved
00:31 with a new project by the programme which included getting involved with Kemah K and
00:36 they recorded some of their own music about the need for change in their local area.
00:40 It's about how Shieldfield is not that horrible but it's not the best. It's not that bad but
00:52 there's good things happening and it's so good but it's not the best, best of the world.
00:58 How we're feeling to live in Shieldfield, how Shieldfield is to other people and how
01:04 Shieldfield is a shield that protects other people from people.
01:10 The project was funded by I Will which was a programme to ask young people about social
01:19 action and we had a few discussions with them in the early practices of the song with Kemah
01:25 and we just talked about what social action means for them. I know it's quite a term that
01:29 a lot of them may not be familiar with but as we were speaking they did actually realise
01:33 that social action for them is quite important and that's how we started talking about Shieldfield
01:38 and how they grew up in Shieldfield and their upbringing and how that influences how they
01:45 see themselves and also how they see the area as well and it was nice to see how they actually
01:50 cherish this area and they're quite supportive and it's nice to see they really want the
01:55 area to be quite a nice place to live in. So the project and the music sessions, the
02:01 conversations were quite inspiring to see but also quite deep in a way. It got them
02:08 to really think about what it means for them to grow up as a young person in general in
02:14 a society and a community that they really care about.
02:18 Kemah grew up in the West End of Newcastle and has been heavily involved in youth services
02:22 from a young age.
02:24 Yeah, I think for me it's like watching them put their thoughts on paper and their experiences
02:32 and their hopes and dreams and it sort of reminds me of when I was younger as well and
02:36 when I had hopes and dreams and I'm fortunate I'm in a place where I am chasing my career
02:40 so watching them it's like I'm seeing myself through them as well which is amazing to see.
02:45 The young people have performed their music at a talent show recently and even have performed
02:50 it to their teachers who loved it.
02:52 Everyone has a work, it's not hard to give a hand out, yeah, yeah, that's what they deserve.