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IN THE MIX - PROJECTS

Past Projects that young people got involved in:

City Centre Project This music project was with young people aged 16-19, who were unaccompanied refugees and asylum seekers living in the UK. The work with CAN aims to introduce them to music-making activity and support creative learning. In the Mix hopes to encourage this group to mix with other young people from various cultures and backgrounds in Manchester to ease feelings of isolation.

Habonim Dror CAN worked with a band whose members are part of Habonim Dror, an international Jewish socialist youth group. The band consists of bass, guitar, keyboard and drums and plays traditional Clesma music. Habonim Dror were keen to work with other groups culturally different from themselves. CAN helped them develop their studio recording skills by producing an EP with them. Find out more about Habonim Dror by visiting www.habodror.org.uk

The Goodfellas This mixed group of 18 year olds were interested in creating a demo CD to distribute to record labels. The group’s style fits into R&B, Hip Hop and Urban beats genres. With the help of CAN’s Music Apprentice Trainees, the group cultivated their studio recording and music production skills with the aim of performing their work and as well as creating their demo.

Hattersley Youth Group CAN was involved in running music workshops with young people from Hattersley, a place with a high level of isolation. These DJing, MCing and creative workshops got young people together in jam sessions and provided them with performance opportunities.

Hyde Hip Hop Project Hyde Hip Hop Project developed out of work CAN did with young people last year. CAN wanted to develop a project which focused on young people’s stories using Hip Hop as the means for them to express themselves. The young people participated in workshops in DJing, MCing, dance and VJing. The Hyde Hip Hop Collective performing some of their work at 'In the Mix' jam sessions and other events.

African Music Project - Afrocats This project focused on the development of a musical theatre piece for the Afrocats play 'Where is Home?' which ran in late 2005. The music was a mixture of modern and traditional music styles and was a reflection of the various drama pieces and complemented the text of the play. Young people were recruited as part of the project, as music workshop participants to be part of the composing, arranging and performance of the pieces. Several of the Workshop trainees worked on the project as part of their paid work placements. 'Where is Home?' was performed at The Greenroom and the Zion Centre in Manchester. ‘Home was somewhere you left when you were 14. Home was the back of a lorry for 14 days. Home is now here in the UK. Today you’re 18 and a letter tells you to go back….home? A ‘home’ that you may not even remember…Or a ‘home’ that doesn’t remember you… In The Mix recruited 6 to 8 young people to get involved in creating and performing the music for the piece with workshops led by the music director and international musician, Sam 'Papa Sam' Maitland.

Wai Yin Chinese Project This project involved young immigrants from the Mandarin community of mainland China, most of whom have been in the UK for less than a year. These young people have limited English usage, but through interpreters and musical artists, 'In the Mix' developed and ran music workshops which engaged and enthralled these young people.

Beat Box Orchestra This workshop was led by Associate Artist, Jason Singh, an experienced beat box artist, musician, engineer and deliverer of workshops with young people. The workshop encouraged twelve young people to develop making music/sounds with their voice and mouth. The sessions took place over three full days in November 2005 and culminated in a performance at the final “In the Mix “jam session held at the Greenroom. The project served as a pilot in order to establish links with young people and to learn from the process, in order to develop future work. The project encouraged young women to participate in Beat Box style projects.

Rochdale Refugee Arts Rochdale has recently seen a large number of refugee people settling in the area. Falinge is a church group who provide provision for the youth- young white people and young people from African refugee backgrounds mix freely and have developed a band called Noah. The aim of the project is to develop the band which already exists as well as to encourage other young people in the group to get involved with Djing, playing an instrument or singing. The project began with a taster session at The Hebron Church in Rochdale with young people from white English backgrounds and African refugee communities. The young people were interested in singing, playing musical instruments and Djing/Mcing. Eight sessions happened starting in August 2005. Development for this project began in April in partnership with the Rochdale Local Authority Arts Unit, who were able to contribute resources and connections to other local arts groups/events. There is a particularly high percentage of African Refugee Young people resident in the Borough. The young people performed two songs at the Greenroom on 7 September, one new and another which was developed by the young people and workshop leaders.

Summer Fiesta Young people aged 13-30 got involved in a week full of workshops culminating in a musical theatre piece at Contact Theatre. The workshops covered music production, DJing, dance, acting and physical theatre. They also had the opportunity to perform and be creative on stage. The workshops were a collaboration between Contact and CAN. CAN offered music production and DJing workshops and Contact supported young people that were keen to do theatre, dance and vocal work. At the end of the week, everyone's ideas came together to create a musical theatre piece that was staged at Contact in July 2005.

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