Take Art is teaming up with Actiontrack to provide a new music service for young people in Somerset. With a focus on excellence, ambition and accessibility, we will be working with music partners, youth groups and schools across the county to deliver an exciting participatory programme that includes performance and professional development.

Both Actiontrack and Take Art have a proven track record in initiating and delivering participatory music projects with large numbers of people, so are ideally suited to take on this exciting new challenge. Take Art will embody the backbone of the service, managing strategic direction, generating opportunties for funding, developing partnerships and carrying out effective communication. We will also support Actiontrack with delivery and aim to provide opportunties for emerging talent within Take Art Live rural touring.

Actiontrack will be delivering the programme of workshops, events and opportunites, working in schools and directly with young people and creative practitioners across the county. Actiontrack already has immense experience in the delivery of music projects and is able to work confidently in a number of different settings using a variety of music styles that fit the target group.

Both organisations have a strong commitment to making arts accessible to all. They also share a common understanding in terms of participatory practice where artist and participant work collaboratively together. Jointly they have shown that they can develop high quality music making projects which have a significant reach across Somerset. Between 2004 and 2006 they undertook a two year participatory music making project, Breaking The Sound Barrier. For this project they worked in depth with 4,000 children and young people in the western half of Somerset resourced with a budget of £250,000.

Over the next three years the Take Art Music service and Actiontrack aim to run three countywide projects based on participation, professional development and peer to peer support. If funding applications are successful we hope to start all three projects in 2011.

• Vocal Chords is a two year project aimed at widening participation to music by children and young people through introductory taster workshops and the establishment of choirs in the five Somerset district areas
• Sounding Board is a peer to peer (instrumental) three year music development programme, aimed at getting young musicians to act as role models for their younger counterparts.
• Refresh is a two year continuing professional development programme for music teachers, emerging young music practitioners and professional musicians interested in leading participatory workshops

Please watch this space for further developments in this new service or email Ralph Lister at Take Art for more information.