18 Sep Colchester young people to have two years of free music workshops – thanks to £30,000 grant
Budding Colchester young noise makers are set to benefit from a £30,000 grant made by Youth Music to Firstsite and its experimental music club, CLIP.
The money will be used to fund a weekly meet up at Firstsite, as well as additional workshops with Essex Youth Services, where young people will have the opportunity to experiment with music and sound to build confidence through improvising and performing.
CLIP was formed in 2015 by local sound artists Simon Keep and Frazer Merrick. Previous projects include working with Colchester Zoo to make music from recordings of animals; as well having given performances of Terry Riley’s In C, quite literally in the sea at Yarmonics Festival and Brightlingsea Regatta. CLIP use these types of ‘musical experiments’ as a way of encouraging young musicians to take risks and build confidence.
CLIP recently collaborated on the Firstsite exhibition Lilah Fowler: Code Clay, Data Dirt (until 13 October). The sound for the video in the exhibition was created by converting the colour wavelengths of the patterns from Lilah’s textiles, and the resonance of their playback in the gallery, into audio waves.
Sally Shaw, Director of Firstsite said: “We’re thrilled with this grant from Youth Music which will enable us to continue our support of CLIP. We are passionate about championing young people, empowering them to develop their talent and achieve their potential. This money will be put to superb use enabling young people to experiment with equipment they may not otherwise have access to and for Firstsite to create fun musical experiences for all skills levels.”
Matt Griffiths, Chief Executive Officer, Youth Music said: “Youth Music is very pleased to be able to support this project. Our vision is that every child, regardless of circumstances, should have the opportunity to explore their musical creativity. CLIP will be enabling many young people to fulfil their musical potential and experience live performance.”
Young people need no equipment or musical knowledge to join CLIP, activities include improvising, instrument building and music production. Workshops take place every term-time Monday, 5-8pm, at Firstsite and begin on 16th September 2019. Suitable for ages 14 and up.
