The Music Works, a Gloucestershire charity that ‘transforms lives through music’ through afterschool, weekend and holiday workshops, and targeted schools/referral programmes, is making a massive impact on young people and the music scene here in the county.

Every week, young people aged 8-18 (and sometimes up to 25) are making the music they love, and being mentored by music leaders from the organisation – either in school, or out of school in community settings.

Many of those young musicians then go on to perform at festivals or events supported by The Music Works, including a monthly music night at The Cavern in Gloucester run by young people from the organisation’s ‘youth voice’ group.

Anita Holford, part of the senior management team at The Music Works, says the benefit that music has had on the lives of youngsters across the county is enormous.

She said: “A lot of what we do is centred around finding out the music that inspires young people, and often it’s rock, pop and urban music.

“It’s not about us teaching music in a formal way, because they get that at school. What we focus on is helping to bring out young people’s innate creativity, and in doing so help them to gain confidence, self-belief and wider skills for life.

“Our music leaders are specialists in working in this way, and particularly in working with young people who may be facing barriers in music, learning or life.

“We have a youth voice group of young people who are passionate about music and want to make things happen for themselves and others. One of the major things they’ve told us is that they want platforms to showcase what they do.

“Finding a venue is tough because so many places don’t allow young people to perform. We were lucky to be able to find a great location in Gloucester at The Cavern.

“We know that the way young people are making music is changing. Many are making music on their laptops or tablets using music software, and they’re just not recognised or supported – so they’re a central part of our youth voice group, and we support them throughout all our work.”

Young people can take part in weekly afterschool music production workshops at The Cavern, as well as in Cheltenham at Studio340 which The Music Works runs in partnership with the charity CCP. In early November there will be new Saturday workshops for bands and vocalists at the organisation’s SoundSpace studio in Cinderford and at Studio340 in Cheltenham.

Alongside the community programme, there are also programmes of targeted work run in partnership with schools or other organisations working with young people. Anita continued: “These are usually targeted to young people facing particular challenges in their lives such as mental health problems, challenging behaviour, or additional needs, and for them, as with all the young people we work, music really can be transformational.”

For more information visit www.themusicworks.org.uk or follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.