Sit back and take a look at what goes on in our Lewisham Young Producers programme, we’ll regularly get the insights of the young creatives taking part, as well those who lead and mentor them.
The participants arrive at The Fellowship, before they jump into the session they share music, laugh and catch up with each other. The group have come together from different schools and referral organisations across Lewisham to be part of Lewisham’s Young Producers, an ambitious project that gives young people an opportunity to create and produce their own music, with the guidance of award-winning music producer and educator Intalekt.
It’s the end of the Autumn term and the group are taking part in a remix masterclass, creating new music inspired by live recordings taken at the Music For Youth Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, no-one really knows what to expect, myself included. But Intalekt launches straight into the workshop, making just one request of the participants, which is that they are ‘open’ to the creative process. So it’s impressive, but not surprising when we get to the end of the session and realise that we’ve made a strong start on five new pieces.
The participants seem a little stunned by their own creative capabilities – they are trying out new ways of making music, as well as being introduced to working with samples of live instrumentation. And this seems to be the theme emerging from this programme so far – with persistence, openness and a willingness to step outside of comfort zones, creativity shines and new, interesting music emerges. When Intalekt shares his creative process and produces in real time, participants are visibly gobsmacked, and this acts as true inspiration for the young people to develop their creative skills and become braver, musically.
This term alone has seen the group create thirteen original pieces and what was before a disparate group of young people working independently, has now become a confident, creative collective looking forward to collaborating with live instrumentals and other young artists. Result!
