In YMI’s 20th anniversary year, we’re highlighting some of the wonderful people and organisations who bring music-making experiences to young people across Scotland. In this month’s Spotlight, discover more about how Articulate Cultural Trust and Hub did just that for young people in Glasgow and East Renfrewshire.
Articulate Cultural Trust and Hub uses participation in the arts and culture to improve outcomes for care experienced young Scots. Their work is serious, but their culture is full of fun and love, with space for everyone at the table.
Everyone involved in the Hub has a lifelong passion for the arts, creative learning and cultural education, and shares a commitment to supporting multiple points of access to high-quality, meaningful and transformative arts experiences - especially for people who face barriers to participating in the arts.
Screenshot from the Track to the Wall video by Articulate Cultural Trust
With locations in Glasgow City Centre and East Renfrewshire, they are best-known for their creative co-working which inspires and empowers care experienced young people and other marginalised groups and communities. Articulate’s work was supported in part by Youth Music Initiative funding which has helped them to deliver programmes like Track in 2019.
Led by artists Frank and Skye Carty, and musicians Ross Clarke, Graeme Smilie, Becci Wallace, Finn Le Marinel, Louis Abbot, Louise McCraw and Jill O’Sulivan, it is a music-making project where young people write, perform, produce and release their own original music with the support of professional musicians, producers and using recording studios.
Participant Toby Watson said that “[they’re] definitely going to keep writing songs, because [they] have realised that [they are] actually quite good at it.”
Given the programme’s success, in the summer of 2021 the team of musicians delivered an intensive ‘Track to the Wall’ summer school for 10 young people at the Glad Cafe in Glasgow’s South Side, in response to the impact of COVID restrictions.
Articulate later took Track to Riverside College with a showcase at Glasgow’s Ice Box social enterprise music venue where the young people performed their songs for friends, family and social workers.
Throughout the music projects, young people have also engaged in graffiti and street art workshops with artist Frank Carty, who has shared various techniques in large scale mural design, ahead of them creating their own city centre artworks for a mural at Strathclyde University.
The aim of the programme was to engage young people in high quality, new and exciting art forms where they could learn skills, meet new people and explore new ways of expressing themselves. They worked with a total of 18 young people, who all got the chance to try something new, build on existing skills, meet new people and form relationships.
Screenshot from the Track to the Wall video by Articulate Cultural Trust
Eona Craig from Articulate Cultural Trust and Hub, says “I feel like Track has just given the young people a space that’s really cool and safe to explore their creativity and express themselves, to create a song that gets across something that they need to say in that moment.”
The Youth Music Initiative’s 20th anniversary celebrations are all about showcasing the power of music making to build confidence, develop friendships and provide hope, particularly for children and young people who don’t have the same opportunities and encouragement as others.
The support of project’s like Articulate’s Track demonstrates a commitment to developing opportunities for personal and professional growth among young people, building their self-esteem and having a good time doing it.
Participant Jamie Sim said: “I wrote two tracks, and I’m quite proud of that.”
