About Us
Mission
Based in Newcastle upon Tyne, we aim to provide musically talented young people
with opportunities to perform live and for other young people to listen,
enjoy and participate in supporting musical performances.
For all young people this may increase their confidence, help them develop useful life skills
and possibly result in them pursuing a career
in the musical arts.
Who we are
City Youth Music is a not for profit group run by parents and young people.
The volunteers in charge of events have all been CRB or DBS cleared by us or at their places of work.
We employ a young person as our youth worker, 5 hours a week.
Getting Involved
We are always looking for more young people to get involved in City Youth Music.
If you are aged under 18 and are interested in getting opportunities to perform your music in Newcastle,
then head to our contacts page and either send the form,
or get in touch via one of our social media sites.
History
City Youth Music (previously Jesmond Youth Music Group, JYMG) was established in March 2009, with support from Newcastle City Council. The aim of the group was to develop musical events for young people who lived in a suburb of Newcastle (Jesmond) where there were few night-time opportunities. JYMG ran band nights, featuring rock music, regularly attracting up to 150 young people. These were usually held on Friday nights when teenagers have been found to be particularly vulnerable. Every year the group also put on a band night at the local community festival. Evaluation showed that the events were very popular with young people, though the vast majority of performers were boys. Initially run by parents, band nights were later run by young people, and progressed until the majority of young musicians reached 18 and left for college and university (in 2011). Both parents and young people had been responsible for successfully applying for grants to maintain the group.
Parents of (mostly) younger musicians (7-15 year olds) maintained the group over the next few years, forged links with other local music organisations and continued to hold musical events for younger performers. In addition, City Youth Music developed more music nights for talented young singers, many of whom were female. In 2013 City Youth Music was successful in attracting further funding from Newcastle City Council to employ a young person from the local area, to work as a youth worker. The youth worker’s role has been to build up the database of musicians, promote live events and perform for us on a regular basis.
More recently, as a result of attracting grant funding, mainly from the Big Lottery, we have been able to run confidence and professional skills workshops and sound workshops, for young people with and without disabilities, including young people with autism. Following the successful sound workshops, we held our first event where everything was run by the young people themselves: advertising, setting up on the night, music and sound, and putting everything away afterwards.
Initially, much of our funding came through the local authority. As a result of budget cuts, we are aware that we have to be more self-sufficient. We now charge for entrance to events, the young people regularly busk and we hold a big fund-raising event, at least once a year. We also try to attract funding, in order to be able to offer employment to more young people. In 2016, we were able to employ two further young people as youth workers for short periods of time.
Based in Newcastle upon Tyne, we aim to provide musically talented young people
with opportunities to perform live and for other young people to listen,
enjoy and participate in supporting musical performances.
For all young people this may increase their confidence, help them develop useful life skills
and possibly result in them pursuing a career
in the musical arts.
Who we are
City Youth Music is a not for profit group run by parents and young people.
The volunteers in charge of events have all been CRB or DBS cleared by us or at their places of work.
We employ a young person as our youth worker, 5 hours a week.
Getting Involved
We are always looking for more young people to get involved in City Youth Music.
If you are aged under 18 and are interested in getting opportunities to perform your music in Newcastle,
then head to our contacts page and either send the form,
or get in touch via one of our social media sites.
History
City Youth Music (previously Jesmond Youth Music Group, JYMG) was established in March 2009, with support from Newcastle City Council. The aim of the group was to develop musical events for young people who lived in a suburb of Newcastle (Jesmond) where there were few night-time opportunities. JYMG ran band nights, featuring rock music, regularly attracting up to 150 young people. These were usually held on Friday nights when teenagers have been found to be particularly vulnerable. Every year the group also put on a band night at the local community festival. Evaluation showed that the events were very popular with young people, though the vast majority of performers were boys. Initially run by parents, band nights were later run by young people, and progressed until the majority of young musicians reached 18 and left for college and university (in 2011). Both parents and young people had been responsible for successfully applying for grants to maintain the group.
Parents of (mostly) younger musicians (7-15 year olds) maintained the group over the next few years, forged links with other local music organisations and continued to hold musical events for younger performers. In addition, City Youth Music developed more music nights for talented young singers, many of whom were female. In 2013 City Youth Music was successful in attracting further funding from Newcastle City Council to employ a young person from the local area, to work as a youth worker. The youth worker’s role has been to build up the database of musicians, promote live events and perform for us on a regular basis.
More recently, as a result of attracting grant funding, mainly from the Big Lottery, we have been able to run confidence and professional skills workshops and sound workshops, for young people with and without disabilities, including young people with autism. Following the successful sound workshops, we held our first event where everything was run by the young people themselves: advertising, setting up on the night, music and sound, and putting everything away afterwards.
Initially, much of our funding came through the local authority. As a result of budget cuts, we are aware that we have to be more self-sufficient. We now charge for entrance to events, the young people regularly busk and we hold a big fund-raising event, at least once a year. We also try to attract funding, in order to be able to offer employment to more young people. In 2016, we were able to employ two further young people as youth workers for short periods of time.
