“We are delighted to receive this investment and look forward to working with the Gwynedd County Learning Disability Team to develop the opportunities for disabled and non-disabled people to come together to make music across the county,” said Meinir Llwyd Roberts, Director, CGWM.
“Based on our belief that every person has a ‘song to sing’ and that every person deserves the opportunity to discover and share their song, Canfod y Gân / Discover the Song will focus on improving the mental health and wellbeing of participants and create pathways for continued participation in music.”
The other two projects are located in Yorkshire and Humberside England. darts (Doncaster Community Arts) will deliver Creative Directions, using folk music to connect local people to one another and to a shared love of sound.
Creative Directions will place professional folk musicians in the heart of Askern and Edlington, offering weekly opportunities to experiment with vocal and instrumentation techniques to those with and without lived experience of mental ill health/social isolation. They will devise new songs and compositions that celebrate and journey through the past, present and future of Doncaster’s rural communities.
“Darts and Doncaster Public Health are proud to have been chosen for one of Spirit’s three national Music Challenge Fund grants,” said CEO Duncan Robertshaw. “The support from Spirit of 2012 gives a tremendous boost to our mission to transform access to arts and health activity, and reduce loneliness and isolation. We can’t wait to get started.”
Also in Yorkshire and Humberside is My Pockets CIC, who will deliver their song-writing project My Pockets Music to disadvantaged young people in Hull and East Riding to support them in creating, recording and playing songs about their own lives and experiences.
The project will take the form of weekly workshops across a range of groups and locations, targeting young people suffering from mental health problems. They will be taught how to play instruments, compose and record songs, make videos and take part in live events, where they will perform their songs for each other and their communities.
“Everyone at My Pockets is thrilled to be awarded the Music Challenge Fund,” said Peter Snelling, Director My Pockets CIC. “We have seen first-hand the remarkable impact that making music has on the wellbeing of young people. The support of Spirit means we can develop, extend and better understand this work – prepare your ears!”
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