This snapshot taken on 12/05/2010, shows web content selected for preservation by The National Archives. External links, forms and search boxes may not work in archived websites.

First Government funded music rehearsal space opens in Liverpool

074/09
11 May 2009

Aspiring young bands in Liverpool will be the first in the country to benefit from a professionally equipped, Government funded music rehearsal space, opened today by Culture Secretary Andy Burnham and UK Music Chief Executive Feargal Sharkey.

The Knotty Ash Youth and Community Centre now has two music rehearsal rooms where bands can practise.  Young people using the centre will also be able to learn new skills such as sound engineering and event promotion, to set them up for a career in the creative industries. 

The Liverpool project is the first of 10 similar schemes around the country to be set up with a DCMS grant, following a key recommendation to Government by the Live Music Forum, which was chaired by Feargal Sharkey.  DCMS has provided £500,000 for the whole scheme.

Andy Burnham said:

“The rehearsal spaces at Knotty Ash are a fantastic new resource, providing a great leisure facility for young people and the chance to get experience in a whole range of areas that might lead to a career in the creative industries.

“This is just the beginning.  Spaces owned by local authorities around the country are being transformed with Government money, and member companies of the Music Industries Association have been very generous in providing cut price instruments. 

“We are focusing our efforts on areas of deprivation - both urban and rural - where there may be few other facilities for young people.  These fully-equipped spaces will make a big difference for young people who are looking for somewhere to practise, spend time and find an outlet for their creative skills. The action to regenerate town centres I recently announced with Hazel Blears will also support the cultural aspirations of young people across the country.”

Five other rehearsals spaces will be opened in the coming months, in Bristol, Washington, Hastings, St. Austell and in rural Norfolk.  The Cornwall and Norfolk schemes will also have mobile facilities, with equipment and instruments taken on a regular circuit of rural locations so that young people from more remote communities can benefit.  Discussions are also underway about setting up spaces in Manchester, Nottingham and Leicester.

Feargal Sharkey said:

“The rehearsal room scheme is a wonderfully simple idea: first find a suitable location; kit it out with musical equipment; and then encourage young people in the surrounding area to get stuck in.

“The benefits stack up socially, economically and culturally - and hopefully some of those young people will pick up valuable skills and go on to work in one of our fantastic creative industries.

“The scheme also encapsulates how national and local government can work together with industry. The Knotty Ash facility will plug directly into Liverpool’s thriving music scene and local music business - encouraging creativity, bringing the community together and benefiting a new generation of musicians.”

Top

Knotty Ash Youth and Community Centre is owned by Liverpool City Council and managed by its Youth Services staff.  It is one of only a few community facilities in East Liverpool, an area with high levels of deprivation.  The redevelopment of the main community centre was paid for by the Government’s Youth Capital Fund.

Beverley Hughes, Children and Young People’s Minister, said:

“The exciting activities on offer at Knotty Ash are exactly the sort of provision for young people that we want to see across the country. It shows that the stereotype of dusty old youth centres with nothing on offer but table tennis is now out of date. We want places that young people actually want to go to where they can take part in a range of fun and interesting activities.

“Through the Youth Capital Fund we are putting young people in the driving seat as they decide what activities and facilities are on offer in their area. I am especially pleased that young people will be able to learn new creative skills at the same time as meeting new people and enjoying themselves.”

Top

Notes to editors

  1. When completed, the Knotty Ash centre will be open 12 hours a day, seven days a week, providing:  two rehearsal rooms, a recording studio and a large, central performance space; a music equipment pool; and a juice bar with pool table and seating area.

  2. The centre is aimed at young people (aged 16-25) who are most in need in the East Liverpool area, especially those that fall outside mainstream education.  On-site youth workers, who will work at the centre full-time, will be able to make contact with, and offer support and guidance to, young people who use the facility.

  3. The centre at Knotty Ash will also offer training and workshops for young people, and provide progression routes into other training, performance and employment opportunities.  

  4. Broadcast training will also be provided and the centre’s technical support workers will offer training that will help young people with careers in the city’s commercial entertainment venues and beyond.  Young people using the centre will also be able to get experience of event management, promotion, PR and other related skills.

  5. In order to maximise opportunities for experience and possible careers, the centre will have links with local  Community Radio stations, city centre live music venues, and  also act as a feeder to commercial recording studios.

  6. One of the key recommendations in the Live Music Forum's report was that the Government should work with local authorities and other partners to develop affordable and well-resourced rehearsal spaces for young artists and musicians, particularly in areas experiencing multiple deprivation.  Further information is available at the DCMS website.

  7. The Department for Children, Schools and Families’ Youth Opportunity and Capital Funds provide revenue and capital budgets for young people to control and decide how money should be spent on positive activities and youth facilities in their area. The involvement of young people, especially disadvantaged young people, is central to the Funds.  Aiming High for Young People announced the continuation of the two Funds until at least 2011 and expansion of the Youth Opportunity Fund in the most deprived areas.  In March 2008 the Youth Taskforce Action Plan introduced a new dimension - Youth Capital Fund Plus - to provide additional funding to improve youth facilities in the most deprived areas, the same areas which will also benefit from the expansion of the Youth Opportunity Fund.  A total of £220 million has been secured for the Funds over the next three years.

Top

Annex A

The following projects are currently in development:

  1. Bristol:  rehearsal space work is underway in a basement next door to Colston Hall in the City Centre. 

  2. Washington (nr Sunderland) – DCMS is close to finalising contracts for a rehearsal space within the Arts Centre in Washington.

  3. Cornwall - In the next few months a space will open in St Austell, supported by a mobile resource that will travel around the county. The venue, known as The House, is based at Polkyth in St Austell, and was the former YMCA building.

  4. Hastings – DCMS is close to finalising contracts for rehearsal facilities at the White Rock Theatre, an old music hall in the town centre which includes a performance space where young people attending the scheme will be able to showcase their work. 

  5. Norfolk.  The proposal includes some static facilities in various arts and youth venues and a mobile resource.

Press Enquiries: 020 7211 6052/6277
Out of hours telephone pager no: 07699 751153
Public Enquiries: 020 7211 6200

Back to main

Next >
< Prev

Back to top