Projects

SUSSED

SUSSED is a project funded by Awards for All.The project has been running over the last year in schools and with the Home Educators Network across South Lakeland. The aim of the project has been to introduce young people to adults working in professions they like the idea of trying themselves. Short films and music have been developed about each subject area. The films will appear here soon.

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The R Factor

The R Factor was a Cumbrian talent quest open to every primary school in the county. The competition centred on Resource Cumbria’s search for a song that would encourage Cumbrian people to reduce, reuse and recycle.

Resource Cumbria teamed up with MusicLinks and all 4 local radio stations – Lakeland Radio, CFM, The Bay and Abbey FM – to deliver this countywide competition.

The R factor offered an opportunity for primary school students in Cumbria to showcase their musical talent to a team of judges as with the “X Factor”.The winning songs were played throughout the following year on a regular basis on local radio, encouraging thousands of people to reduce, reuse and recycle.

Music In Nature

Over three years working in partnership with the National Trust and The Lake District National Park Authority, MusicLinks worked with schools and community groups learning about the national park and finding new ways of interpreting the things we found there.

During these sessions we got to learn about instrument making leading to the construction of an outdoor music classroom in Fellfoot Park. We also explored wildlife sanctuaries and learnt about birdwatching and charcoal firing. The resulting experiences formed the basis of new compositions and artworks. The participants particularly enjoyed the ceramic montages we made with the help of local potter Rebecca Callis and used as graphic scores.

Cumbrio

The Cumbrio Touring Network was developed in partnership with Generator North East and coordinated locally by MusicLinks. The network provided bursaries for local promoters in six venues around cumbria. The network supported original music made by local bands and ran successfully for over five years.

Cumbrio helped raise the profile of local music and had some notable successes. Local bands travelled down to the In The City festival in Manchester and went on to sign deals with major labels. There were also a number of young promoters inspired along the way, including Andy and Boon who went on to set up Kendal calling which attracted around 30,000 people in recent years.

The Demo Bus Project

Seven bands recorded new material during the demo bus project: The Human Abstract, The Berlinners, Dangerous Cargo, Zenith, Easy Dub, Resounding Zero (aka Songs of Praise) and Calefaction.

We were impressed with the talent and professional approach of the bands involved.

The resulting sessions were compiled onto a CD and have been made available through the MusicShare distribution network. All the bands performed confidently to an appreciative audience at the gig marking the end of the project.

MusicShare

MusicLinks in partnership with The County Library Service devised and coordinated the MusicShare project.

The Music Share project aimed to increase the audience for original music made by local bands and musicians of all ages, by creating a local MusicShare section in county and school libraries.

CDs are still distributed through scheme, and should be of good quality, jewel cased, with a professional style cover and on-body artwork.

CWOTE

CWOTE offered people living in rural areas the chance to discover and celebrate local history, and to reaffirm their sense of community and cultural identity. Participants drew information from local history archives and reference books, recorded oral histories and increased their understanding of the challenges rural communities have faced both in the past and today.

We worked alongside local historians and other experts, as well as interested villagers who helped us to carry out the initial research and gain a clear picture of the villages as they once were. Research was assisted through the creation of a local history research guide offering advice on oral history methods and Internet research and commissioned a booklet entitled Exploring the History of your Community for the project. We also developed a module with the OCN, Researching Local History, which can now be used by others to offer OCN accreditation in this subject. We met with a number of interested, helpful and noteworthy people in each village, and held meetings with relevant committees.

Along with the preliminary research and information, we gathered oral histories and daily journals from young people, and older members of the local community. We also regularly checked the local press to uncover any contemporary issues we may have missed. As a result of this work we have learned of, and subsequently looked to assist, the successful campaign for a new village shop in Witherslack.