1 - Examples of The Irish Youth Music Awards on a Local Level

Galway has a big focus as a music city and through Youth Work Ireland Galway’s involvement in the Irish Youth Music Awards (IYMAs) since 2014, it has supported young people involved in it to gain new skills, socialise with other young people and help them progress to further educational and employment opportunities.
The IYMAs has created a framework to focus our music programmes around and acted as a great focal point to create a space for young people to regularly engage in our service.
Two members of our IYMAs team have gone on and presented at the IYMAs 2015 and Youth Factor 2015 (National Youth variety show).

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.

2 - Our IYMAs team were 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 Took part in an international youth and music 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.
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.
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.
In 2017, over 10% of young people from IYMAs Team Galway had gone on to pursue music related courses, and a further 15-20% of current members aim to do so in the coming years.

3 - Examples of The Big Music Project on a Local Level

Funded projects have the flexibility and creatively to develop their own programme within their local community. Young people will be recruited and become Music Champions, undergoing various roles such as participation, leadership, peer educators and mentors.
Youth workers will support young people throughout this process and will plan, deliver and evaluate their programme involving a community event and/or festival for young people to showcase their work and talents.
The model of The Big Music Project allows other projects and initiatives with the ‘5 nations’ to link with social action, positive emotional wellbeing and young trustees board - allowing young people’s voices to be heard and realising their own creative potential.

4 - Northern Ireland

An annual music festival planned by young people, for young people. Normally hosted at the end of June, it acts as a celebration of the end of exams, and the beginning of summer. A core group of young people come together for weeks beforehand to plan the content, recruit performers and PR the festival. Young people MC the event, facilitate workshops, and also make up the performers on the day. The focus of the day is really on fun, and young people build new experiences, learning, and entertainment around this. It gets better every year, and the video shows a bit of what it’s about and includes some thoughts from young people.
Big Music Festival 2016: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN0wYqtaMKc

Examples of The Big Music Project on a Local Level

5 - UK Youth, Rathbone & MyPlace

With a flexible approach in The Big Music Project (TBMP), programme development will allow some of the following:
A project where all can show off individual and group talents in music, performing, producing, photography, and media.
To work as a group; meet new friends and develop social skills.
Allows to work together to plan and deliver a festival / celebration event – allow all young people involved in the project to showcase their skills and talent.
Allow young people to gain confidence by taking the lead on their own project. Areas of interest that hubs have expressed and began delivering on are as follows:
– Singing and song writing.
– Recording and producing music.
– Social Media and advertising the project.
– Photography.
– Graphic Design.

6 - The Project

Enables young people to meet other young people with similar interests, skills and knowledge in the music arena.
Provide opportunities for young people to educate each other, learn together and share skills and abilities, allowing for future development and progression.
Presents opportunities for young people to meet and engage with experienced professionals who will be invited to attend and share their knowledge and experiences.
Enables young people to learn and gain experience in areas such as project management, social media, marketing and peer education.
Provides a non-judgemental environment for young people to try a new activity, test new material and practice with/be part of a small audience.

7 - Youth Scotland

Paisley YMCA – Renfrewshire, Glasgow
Paisley YMCA has been operating for a number of years and prides itself with its music reputation in the city. Paisley’s Big Music Project is focused around a collection of personal programmes based around personal development rather than an overall generic music programme. Projects vary from performance, sound engineering, dj’ing and digital music workshops.
By adopting personal development within their project, Paisley YMCA has seen an increase in attendance, increase in confidence levels and more sustainability in their programmes including:
Young people volunteering in the community as they are developing job skills and experience that otherwise would not be given to them within the music industry and valuing and understanding it’s purpose.
Young people developing their social, entrepreneurial and enterprising ideas (creative thinking) outside the box solutions to how they make their own space and develop a music career.
Digital skill development as it's a requirement that every project has some element of digital entwined into their idea. It's a myth that young people today are all digital natives and as a result many young people lack basic digital skills, so the digital literacy gap widens between the haves and have nots.
Reduced anti social youth disorder, increases soft skills and builds up confidence, empowerment and aspirations in young people as they are the main drivers of the projects with some having direct access to funding.

8 - The Live Event

"The Live Event" is an annual event for those involved with The Big Music Project, giving young people aged 14-25 years an access all areas pass to get to know about all the different roles in the music and creative industry, meet professionals and gain advice, a variety of themed workshops, further educational and employability opportunities as well as having the chance to perform in a professional music venue.
This is a free event through this programme.