Shetland Arts Trust has been awarded a grant of £16,500 from the National Foundation for Youth Music to promote a series of music workshops and concerts for young people throughout the islands over the winter months.

The project, which is being promoted under the title ‘Solid Rock’, will culminate with a two day visit from the internationally acclaimed London-based music organisation ‘RockSchool’ and a possible day-long young peoples rock music festival in Lerwick.

Set up in 1999 with Lottery funding through the Arts Council of England, the National Foundation for Youth Music (Youth Music) is a charity providing music-making opportunities for children and young people up to the age of 18, particularly those with least opportunity. By the end of 2005 Youth Music aims to have reached more than 1 million people, providing many of them with their first music making experiences. Youth Music funds programmes and schemes which support music making principally outside school hours, in communities, youth clubs and groups where music making can be developed amongst young people who otherwise may not have the opportunity. Youth Music is developing music making activities in Scotland with the support of the Scottish Arts Council. 

The Shetland project is one of the first projects to be funded by Youth Music in Scotland under this new initiative. The local workshops will concentrate on all kinds of creative music making, especially rock music, as well as production issues (PA and lighting) and stage presence. Special focus will be given to assisting individual musicians to come together for the first time in a group format.

The workshops, to be delivered by tutors such as Russell Gair, Alice Mullay and Jonathon Ritch, will be run in partnership with SIC Community Services Youth Workers / Groups. Workshops will be held in the North Isles, the north mainland, the west mainland, the south mainland and the Lerwick / Scalloway areas. Each workshop will be followed by a young people’s rock concert where the young musicians who have participated in the workshops will be offered the chance to play live, possibly supporting one of Shetland’s better known bands, also selected by them, at a concert in their area.

Shetland Arts Trust Music Development Officer Davie Gardner said “This is a terrific boost to music making for young people in Shetland. Rock music tends to be officially supported slightly less than other genres in the islands, so it’s great that a national organisation such as Youth Music recognises the potential of what’s currently happening in Shetland with a large grant of this kind, especially at the very outset of the Scottish initiative. I’m sure the programme will prove incredibly popular with young people and hopefully assist a new generation of rock musicians and groups to develop in the islands”.

Full details of workshop’s and concerts etc will be advertised in the local press and via area youth workers in the near future.

For further information contact Davie Gardner on (01595) 697550.