In this month’s Spotlight, we’re talking about how the Youth Music Initiative supports opportunities for young people to get involved in experimental music as part of our 20th anniversary.
Did you know that this year marks YMI's 20th anniversary? Such a special event should of course be celebrated – but it’s also an opportunity to reflect.
In the lead up to 2022, we began to explore the impact of YMI. How could we ensure that it continued to represent and support diverse opportunities for young people, particularly in areas of music that felt underrepresented?
Experimental music encompasses a vast array of work including electronic, electroacoustic, improvisation, radio art, sound art and DIY. But it was clear that here was a chance for YMI to support organisations working with young people in this ever-growing genre, and to encourage those children and young people to engage with experimental music-making.
We put out a call for submissions to a targeted fund and we’re delighted to invite you now to discover more about the five organisations we're working with to offer a range of experiences and learning in experimental music-making over the next year.
Counterflows 2017, courtesy of the organisation
AC Projects is an independent arts organisation set up in 2011 and responsible for the Counterflows Festival, a Glasgow-based contemporary music festival that celebrates challenging and thought-provoking work in experimental music.
Their project, Music Space Creative Sessions, builds on the Music Space Bursary programme, which was supported through Creative Scotland’s Youth Arts Emergency Funding.
Alasdair Campbell, director of the festival, who also co-curates and co-produces the Tectonics festival with the BBC SSO and Ilan Volkov, said: “Music Space is an idea rather than an actual space and continues AC Projects’ commitment to supporting innovation and openness in the making and sharing of music."
“The Sessions, which we’ll be working with Sound Lab to deliver, will take the form of a series of workshops and discussions led by facilitators and practitioners offering young people access to specialist skills and knowledge in the making of music."
Sonic Bothy, an inclusive new music ensemble that explores, composes and performs experimental and contemporary music, will undertake a period of research and development to allow them to develop ways they can meaningfully work with young people and incorporate this work into their programme going forward.
Claire Docherty, Director of Sonic Bothy, said, "We are delighted to have this opportunity that will allow us to develop this exciting new strand of work at Sonic Bothy."
“We have worked as mixed-ability teams at Sonic Bothy to create innovative accessible practice for a decade, and we are looking forward to working with and for young people with a disability, neurodiversity or ALSN to explore their ideas and what resonates with them.”
Deep Dive. Credit: Mikhail Pinyaev
Cryptic, an international award-winning producing arts house based in Glasgow, with a reputation for nurturing future creative talent, are delivering Deep Dive, offering monthly networking sessions for young people in greater Glasgow aged 16 – 25.
Anna Realta, Project Co-ordinator for the project says that “the content of these sessions will be led by the participants, under the guidance of mentors from within the music industry."
“The aim of the programme is to not only develop and inspire young musician’s experimental electronic and live music making skills but also create a peer-to-peer support network within a safe and welcoming environment.”
New Music Scotland connects, enables and supports makers of innovative and experimental music. They're also focusing on research and development, specifically to explore how they engage with neurodiverse young people, disabled young people and young people from minority ethnic communities and reduce barriers to participation in new music.
GIOFest 27 November 2021. Credit: Brian Hartley.
Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra (GIO) is a large improvising ensemble of around 30 musicians from diverse artistic backgrounds, which performs across the UK and Europe.
Their work will focus on the development and mentoring of a ‘young people’s champion’ for the organisation. This champion will identify opportunities for young people from a wide range of backgrounds and abilities to join their audience and engage in practical music sessions.
Gerry Rossi, the Orchestra’s General Manager says, “The approach of group improvisation encourages inclusivity and holds no barriers to experience or ‘ability’ and can thus complement all creative activity."
“Our hope is that the outcome of the project will be to provide a range of experiences to a wide range of abilities in project management in creative arts and approaches to large-scale free improvisation.”
