In this month's Spotlight, we hear from Mobilize Music Project: a community youth music organisation directed by and engaging young people aged 12 to 25. Mobilize provides group work opportunities, rehearsal and recording facilities, live music events, music tuition and more to help young people build confidence and self-esteem and learn all about music and the creative industries.
Subspace Highway at Stereo, Glasgow. Credit: Mobilize Music Project.
What a year we’ve had here at Mobilize Music Project!
With the Youth Music Initiative funding we have received from Creative Scotland, we have really been able to take things to another level and build on the musical legacy at our base of operations in East Kilbride Universal Connections.
Enjoy some highlights of what we got up to over the last year and discover our latest work over on Facebook.
One of the most exciting additions in the last year was our album project, which saw young people take part in song writing workshops to develop their own tracks which were then recorded and released on digital platforms and CD.
Those making an appearance on the album took part in photography workshops to create promotional images for the album and they even designed and screen printed a range of merchandise!
The album project let us write songs about how we were feeling, which really helped me with my mental health. My song on the album was my most listened to song on Spotify last year, I love it!- Participant, Mobilize Music Project
In August, the project culminated with a visit to live music venue Stereo in Glasgow to launch the finished album, with five selected acts taking to the stage in front of a massive crowd on what was an extremely successful night. Mobilize Music Project: Volume One is available on all major streaming platforms, so go and give a listen!
August also saw young people from our junior group take to the stage for the very first time with a showcase of live performances at East Kilbride Universal Connections, to show off everything they had been learning.
Mush The Room perform at EK Universal Connections. Credit: Mobilize Music Project.
Following this, November brought the long awaited re-introduction of regular gig nights at EKUC. Things kicked off with an East Kilbride & Strathaven Schools Band Night, a partnership event between Mobilize and our local high schools which saw nine acts from Duncanrig Secondary, Calderglen High, St Andrews & St Brides High and Strathaven Academy perform.
Since then we have had five band nights, with young acts The Fruit Flies, Subspace Highway, Appeal to Authority, Under Review, Tanith Bavaird, The Offbeats, Situation Zero, The Amplifiers, Jay Malley, Abigail Berry, The Valentis, Josh McGuigan, Chris Larkins and Stargazer all taking to the stage, playing to excited audiences of music fans. We’ll have lots more live performance opportunities in 2023 so expect to see a host of talented young people taking to the stage in the near future.
During the absence of our full on gig nights, we introduced our Tiny Gaff Sessions in 2022 as a means to help young people build confidence and help alleviate issues with mental wellbeing that arose following two years of lockdowns, home learning and social isolation.
Taking inspiration from the online Tiny Desk Sessions, these informal, intimate open mic-style sessions took place in a makeshift living room which we created at EKUC. The Tiny Gaff allowed young people to try out performing live for the first time, try out new material or just watch and listen to the performances.
The supportive and encouraging atmosphere, driven by the young people themselves, has seen the Tiny Gaff go from strength to strength, with the last session attracting over sixty attendees, including visitors from other youth centres, and twenty nine young performers.
Our funding from YMI also allowed us to offer music tuition over the last two years, with drum lessons, guitar lessons and ukulele lessons all on offer and this year we’ve added vocal lessons into the mix too! The lessons have allowed many young people to learn an instrument for the very first time and many have continued their learning after their lessons have finished, engaging with other music-based learning opportunities at Mobilize such as forming bands and jamming, taking part in song writing and even performing at our Tiny Gaff Sessions.
The Dungeon Rehearsal Studio @ EK Universal Connections. Credit: Mobilize Music Project.
This year saw the re-opening of The Dungeon Rehearsal Studio at EKUC, which had remained closed to the wider public since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a source of funding for Mobilize and EKUC, the closure of the facility in this period was a massive blow to our community and YMI funding proved vital in sustaining and developing our youth music opportunities both during the pandemic and as we returned to face to face working.
The Dungeon remains the only publically available band rehearsal facility in East Kilbride, the second largest town in Scotland, and the fully-equipped rehearsal space is available for hire for just £1 per person, per hour. Since returning we have welcomed a huge range of bands and solo acts, young and old, for rehearsal sessions, providing a much needed service in our community!
Participants of Mobilize Music Project with their Scottish Education Award. Credit: Reach PLC.
With albums, gigs, music tuition and many more amazing things happening over the last year or so, one of the highlights of the year was being nominated in the Community Learning and Development category for the Scottish Education Awards 2022. A visit from the judging panel after making the final three led us to the ceremony at the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow and we won! It was an absolutely amazing day, the young people in attendance were absolutely ecstatic and it was fantastic for both our young participants and our staff to be recognised for the work we’ve been doing.
Not ones to rest on our laurels here at Mobilize, we’ve got lots more happening as we move forward in 2023 and beyond. With another album of original songs written, recorded and released by young people, more music lessons, a documentary, music videos and a youth choir, we’ve got lots more opportunities for young people to build confidence and skills through creativity and music and we couldn’t be more excited!
