Young People's Arc MBWO music project with Global Grooves

Young People’s Arc music project

A busy summer spent with Global Grooves – a charity dedicated to the development of cultural music, dance and carnival arts in the UK – saw a group of young people from Manchester Bangladeshi Women’s Organisation (MBWO) work towards putting on an impressive performance for friends and family at Arc.

Complete with eye catching face paint and colourful drums, the group of six skilfully combined drumming with a powerful poetry recital at last week’s concert.

Led by Emma from Global Grooves, the sessions allowed the group’s confidence to grow as they picked up valuable skills in performance, engagement and teamwork.
They took it in turns to chant together, play a number of different arrangements and one young person delivered spoken verses to the small but captivated audience with confidence. Afterwards, the group took a well deserved bow and were met with a round of applause for all of their hard work.

It was clear that the summer project was thought of highly by the young people, as they participated in a handful of group hugs and waved a reluctant goodbye to Emma at the end.

Young People’s Arc is a dynamic initiative reaching out to the most vulnerable young people, delivered in partnership with statutory and community agencies.
Each year YPA offers over 100 young people aged 5 to 25 the chance to take a break from their everyday lives, be creative, have fun and meet others who share similar life experiences. It is funded by BBC Children in Need and Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. YPA Senior Project Manager Emily Weygang said;

“Thanks to funding from Youth Music, our Young People’s Arc programme has had an exciting 18 months. We’ve worked with young carers, YMCA, teenage mothers and young people through Community CAMHS.“

The MBWO group’s fantastic performance was filmed by John Grey and will soon be turned into an exciting short film about the project. Watch this space for the finished result!