This summer, we embarked on an extraordinary project in Margate, with the aim of creating a space to help young people to unlock their creativity, inspired by Sun Ra’s ideology and our individual capacity to create and define our own futures, outside ‘traditional’ structures.
We partnered with Arts Education Exchange and People Dem Collective, two organisations that work with young people in Margate, to deliver a project encouraging the creation of lyrics, rap and spoken word pieces, inspired by themes of space & identity. This collaboration aimed to provide high-quality arts opportunities in areas identified by the Arts Council as having low cultural engagement.
Arts Education Exchange, based in Margate, reimagines creative education for young people who have found traditional education settings difficult, while People Dem Collective focuses on providing space, engagement, and inclusion for Black, Brown, and Diaspora communities. Together, these organisations worked to inspire and empower young people through creative expression.
The project began with a training session for NYJO’s Emerging Professional musicians, Delivered by Arts Education Exchange this session helped our EPs to explore positive behaviour management in creative workshops, and to consider how to engage and support the young people that AEE work with effectively.
We were pleased to bring along a quartet, led by NYJO EP Rhiannon Davies, who performed some of Rhiannon’s original songs for the group and helped them unpick the concept of songwriting. The musicians then brought the young people together for a jam session where some of them played instruments such as the drum kit, guitar, and percussion for the very first time! Over 8 sessions, the NYJO team supported the young people to create their own original lyrics and melodies. They took poems and pieces of prose writing inspired by space and crossed out words they did not want, to create their own original work. We then shaped this into a final piece of music that was recorded in the studio at AEE and previewed during our We Out Here Family Area performance.
By engaging young people in Margate and providing a nationally recognised platform for their work, we hope to have contributed to the development of their creative potential, ensuring Sun Ra’s cosmic vision continues to inspire future generations.
We are so proud of the young people for being brave and coming with us on this journey of self-expression, carving out space for their creativity, which we hope will stay with them in years to come.