SPARK Youth Music were lucky enough to receive funding of £1,386 from The King Henry Endowed Trust which enabled them to run a band programme for young people in Warwick from autumn 2024 to summer 2025.
The Award Winning band programme saw 6 children join a band and with the help of a professional musician/tutor work as a professional band and take part in all the activities that involves. Almost all the children joined the band with little or no musical experience and SPARK provided all the instruments needed. The band members learnt to play Guitar, Bass, Drums, Keyboard or sing Vocals through playing cover songs. They then progressed to writing their own original song which they recorded in a professional recording studio. Throughout the year the band, ‘Cool Kids on The Block’, also designed a band logo and created band t shirts, designed a poster for their gig, took part in a radio interview, took part in a band photo shoot and videography, created a music video and performed in a professional gig at The Greig Hall in Alcester.
All the children that took part in the band programme were from vulnerable backgrounds with most of the families not being able to afford musical opportunities like this without the support of funding from organisations like The King Henry Endowed Trust. Feedback from families has been extremely positive not only in terms of the participants’ musical journeys but also the overall confidence and wellbeing of the children that took part.
The band members have learnt valuable life and work skills such as team work and also been exposed to different aspects of the creative industries such as Music Production.
SPARK has a goal to make every child a musician and is passionate about making Music affordable and accessible to any child that wants to learn a musical instrument. Thanks to The King Henry Endowed Trust this has been made possible for 6 children from Warwick this year.
For more information on SPARK Youth Music please visit Facebook page @sparkyouthmusic
