Fourteen new Discover arts awards for Tuned In Cumbria!

Tuned In - Kendal and Barrow

 We had a great response to our highly energetic Tuned In music sessions for looked after children in Kendal and Barrow. The group created a wealth of material including songs about Aliens, cartoon animations with backing tracks and dance routines set to newly composed music.

Big thanks to the staff from Sedbergh Drive and our team of musicians also to all the young people that came along to create, share and have fun.

Our final session was a celebration with a screening of all the visual pieces created and we listened to the music created too. It's always brilliant to see finished creations and to be with a group so respectful of each other’s projects.  We’re delighted to announce that all the young people involved have gained their Arts Award Discover, that’s fourteen new arts awards! Well done to all.

Our fabulous trainee artist Adele has also achieved her Bronze Arts Award.

Tuned In is our multi-regional project that includes music programmes in Cumbria, Sandwell and Liverpool. If you are interested in finding out more, or are a young looked after person or an adult that cares for a looked after young person and would like to join in please email us.

A goodbye poem

This is the day we say goodbye

But we want to say thank you guys

We have had the best time ever

We think you are all very clever

Hand puppets, clay models and wooden spoons

Animations, poems, songs and good tunes

Are all the things that we have done

We have had so much fun 

Thank you all from the tribe!

Written by children from the Barrow sessions

Update on latest sessions

Have a Go! session 2 (Maryport)           

On Saturday 7 July we had our second full day Have a Go! session in Maryport.  We started the day with a good game of Stand up if... and some call and response songs.  A group went with our top film maker Tom and made some great animations.  We had a brilliant group sing and then we went into smaller groups to sing, play and compose new songs.  We all got together at around 3pm to share what we had been doing.  There were some fantastic garageband tracks, some beautiful singing with Pete on guitar.  I was glad the girls had moved away from the backing track and started to sing with Pete on guitar, we could hear their voices much better.  We were treated to an Acapella song too. The films made were excellent.  We saw The Maryport news, a scooter film and brilliant animations.  It was a fabulous day and everyone seemed a lot more confident and relaxed.

Have a Go! session 3 (Maryport)

It was brilliant to be back together for another full day. We started the session with drama games and call and response songs including: The button factory, zip zap boing, this is a tick this is a tock and Let’s all be.   Then a group went with Tom to create some films and animations while others stayed with Pete and Keith to sing and create new songs.  There were lots of songs to hear and films to watch in the afternoon sharing and the work created was wonderful.  We could see the time and care the young people had taken to present work to others and also to ensure they were expressing something about themselves. We were also treated to some brilliant dancing and choreography.  Everyone is looking forward to the nest session.

Have a Go! in Maryport

On Saturday 23 June, we held our first full day Have a Go! session for foster parents and children in Maryport.  We were very pleased with the amount of people that came along to take part and despite the floods, high wind and traffic chaos; most of them were with us all day.  The project is aimed towards 7-11 yr olds but we welcomed young people out of that age range as well due to varying circumstances. 23 young people, 15 Foster carers, 2 social workers, a participation officer and 4 artists attended.

We started the day with a name game, we filled in some evaluation tools, drew some pictures and then went into groups.  A group went to make wooden spoon puppets, others worked on film and green screen, a group of girls formed “Only Girls Aloud” singing group, others started making tracks on garageband and a couple of lads let rip on the electric guitar.  Pretty soon there was a song about biscuits featuring uke and tambourine, Adele songs were being belted out, a boy turned into Superman on film flying through the air and spoon characters started to join in the fun too. 

In the afternoon felt teddy bears were made, a fly on the wall type documentary was edited together, garageband beats turned into complex tunes, there was a song about a rock band and we all had time to share what we had made.  We gathered comments about the day “It was great”  “The fact the whole family could come was brilliant”  “These are great memories”  “At the beginning he thought he couldn’t do it but look what he’s made” There was a lot of laughter, smiles and rounds of applause.  Some fantastic art was performed and displayed but best of all the young people left feeling very proud and looking forward to the next session.