Project CREATE in St Austell Cornwall

On Saturday 23rd September the Project CREATE team in partnership with Arts Well and Music for Good took forward the learnings about different meanings to research and mental health related terms gathered so far through conversations with Young Persons' Advisory Group (YPAG) and focus groups. We introduced them to ten young people in a one-day workshop held in St Austell, Cornwall. The workshop was facilitated by experts from Music for Good, where once again music was the vehicle through which we asked the young people (aged between 11-15) to become young researchers and continue our exploration of terms like loneliness, wellbeing, research etc.

And what a day!

Setting the scene: Local to the area, most of the young people were unknown to one another, the space that we used (The House, Young People Cornwall) as well as the staff and facilitators running the day.

We started the day with breakfast and listening to music (SIX the musical was the requested soundtrack), facilitating connections and communication to foster some ease and comfort and to most degrees this was a success. We gave the participants a tour of the venue and documented their skills and interests. However, coming into a new and what became a noisy environment wasn't that easy for all, but once we all settled down and began the introductions to ourselves and the purpose for the day a calm and focused group emerged.

The day was broken up into three main sections that comprised of: exploring and categorising the meaning of the terms to the participants, then using this as a springboard to creating music and lyrics for an original song and at the end we had a feedback/reflections session. The participants’ musical ability ranged from novice to expert, we had two drummers, two vocalists, a euphoniumist (complete with euphonium), two piano/keyboard players, two guitarists (acoustic and electric) and a synth player and in a small space, it got loud, but they loved this. Through the talented facilitation by our multi-skilled musicians, all participants got the opportunity to contribute their ideas and sometimes newfound musical skills to the creation of an original piece of music titled 'Safe Space'.

We recorded and documented the day on film and asked the participants to also record interviews of themselves and each other reflecting on the day and their experiences. We'll collate these into a short film where you'll get to witness a performance of 'safe space' and hear first-hand accounts of their journeys from walking into an unknown environment to finding new connections through creativity and community, where their hard work and commitment resulted in a tangible and successful piece of music.