Cosmopolitan Arts Case Study

Cosmopolitan Arts are a Leicester City based National Portfolio organisation who promote inclusivity, creativity, and the transformative power of the arts. They celebrate diversity and embrace the resplendent tapestry of Leicester's cultural landscape.

Leicestershire Music wanted to understand and better serve the young people of Leicester City and working in partnership with Cosmpolitan has allowed us to learn about the needs of our city based communities and work together to provide bigger and better opportunities and create long term impact, including the securing of a dedicated young person music space in the City Centre.

Project Aims:
The main aim of this project was to deliver free music provision to deprived young people, predominantly from the black and Asian community. Delivering sessions from the African Caribbean Centre in Leicester, to create new music for performance (aligning with Leicestershire Music's Big Audacious Goal of engaging with larger numbers of under-represented and disadvantaged young people in Leicester City)

To develop a strong partnership to deliver higher quality work and support Cosmopolitan Arts to apply for larger and more sustainable pots of funding and help the project continue in the longer term.

To develop the genre of Jazz and improvisation with young musicians (using the expertise of Cosmopolitan's regular tutors and input from NYJO)

Target Participants:
Young people from the black and Asian communities aged 8-18 years old

Activities:
We worked with 50 (core group) disadvantaged/disengaged young people who enjoyed the inspiring, free, weekly, music-making session (instrument tuition; ensemble work; composition; stagecraft; music understanding/appreciation) over 20 weeks plus a week intensive summer school, focussing predominantly on Jazz.

We formed a partnership with NYJO, who supported through providing free workshops with their young ambassadors, to create new music.

Performance opportunities that the young people took part in during this project:

- 9^th & 10^th April 22 - Cosmopolitan Arts Festival '22, Music video performances festival online and it shop windows in the city centre
- 1^st June 22 - Queens Platinum Jubilee only youth performance streamed live on East Midlands Today and BBC Radio Leicester
- 31^st May 22 - also full day workshop with Jazz at the Lincoln Centre
- 22^nd June 22 - Leicestershire Music's 'Leics Make Music' festival at De Montfort Hall
- 23^rd July 22 -For the Love of Jazz Festival in Leicester,
- 19^th December 22 - Christmas performance at the African Caribbean Centre with High Sheriff of Leicester in attendance.
- 20^th February 23 – finale project performance at African Caribbean Centre for community and elders from Caribbean Court

The young people gained so much through being given the opportunity to work with fantastic high quality music tutors, attend world class music workshops and have so many high-profile performances within this short space of time. This improved their wellbeing developed interpersonal and musical skills including making, playing and theory. This enriched their experience and allowed them to flourish, giving them self-empowerment and raised their aspirations.

What challenges did you face to make you adapt or refine your practise?

Our guitar and bass tutor had stage 4 cancer in January and died at the end of June, myself and all the music tutors were very close to him, we had a tough time and we had to support him until he died and to tell the young people he taught that he had died. The young people performed at his funeral and we have supported them through this period.

Challenges of the space – the building's storage makes set up and pack up of each session particularly challenging. Cosmopolitan are looking to create a permanent young person only music making space in the City.

What action was taken? (what did you change or do differently?)

As above with regards to the death of a tutor

With regards to the building. Cosmopolitan were made a NPO in 2023 and as a result have been able to successfully apply for a £142,000 grant to renovate and rent a self contained space in Leicester City Centre.

What were the outcomes from the action you took?

The newly funded space will become a dedicated young persons music making space in partnership with Leicestershire Music. The feedback from young people was that they wanted a space they felt was their own, to attend lessons, get together and rehearse and feel safe. The outcome is that for the first time in more than 10 years there will be access to a purpose fitted space for delivering and making music with young people that is relevant and geographically easy to access.

Please click here to see tables of findings from student questionnaires - showing outcomes.

Overall, the participants gained so much through being given the opportunity to work with fantastic high quality music tutors, attend world class music workshops and have so many high-profile performances within this short space of time. This improved their wellbeing developed interpersonal and musical skills including making, playing and theory. This enriched their experience and allowed them to flourish, giving them self-empowerment and raised their aspirations.

Parent of Amber aged 14 "Amber lost her dad suddenly to a heart attack last year, she has really struggled. Amber really loves her music sessions, it has improved her mood, confidence and has made some lovely friends. Amber practices everyday drums and has got good, then she took up singing and would like to learn bass. The project has helped support her through the grief of losing her dad, and it has helped me seeing her happy. We would like the sessions to continue as a lifeline to Amber. It's such a good project – the workshop with 'Jazz at the Lincoln Centre' was fantastic and the Jazz festival performance was absolutely fantastic opportunity performing alongside famous musicians"

Tutor - Dave Anderson of Amber aged 14 – "Amber started lessons with no previous knowledge, she has excelled at drums and can now play quite complex drum patterns. Very keen student who obviously practices regularly, she really enjoys lessons and is determined to learn and succeed."

Parent of Ruben aged 11 "Ruben loves his lessons he started playing saxophone, then also did drums and guitar. The project is fantastic, as Ruben doesn't know his dad and is mixed raced, having tutors that are of Caribbean decent has helped him. He has excelled in all instruments and really enjoys playing, he practices all of them every day. I would love for this project to continue as we cannot afford music lessons and he loves his tutors and the opportunities to play and perform in different settings"

Tutor – Marcus Joseph of Ruben aged 11 "Ruben is a talented young musician who had no previous musical experience. He has excelled in playing and understanding of music theory, he developed confidence when performing and worked well as part of an ensemble."

Parent of Sariah aged 16 "Sariah loves the music sessions, she plays drums and bass, she loves her tutors, the lessons, the other young people involved and being able to perform in different settings. Having black tutors has helped her, as look like her so relatable and inspirational. Sariah has improved so much in a short space of time and now wants to pursue a career in music. We love the project, please let it carry on"

Tutor Stanley Samuel of Sariah aged 16 – "Sariah started learning bass and quickly picked it up, she is very confident, she struggled with music theory at first, but once she grasped it and why it was relevant, she developed very quickly. Sariah has become very enthusiastic and confident playing bass and picks up complex bass lines quickly and very good at composing and improvisation. A huge fan of playing jazz"