The Lets Be Positive Youth Group
The Lets Be Positive (LBP) youth group derived from The Bridge New Deal for Communities pilot initiative, “Summer Music Album Project”. The project aimed to offer groups of young people, from different ethnicities and disadvantaged backgrounds, the opportunity to produce a music album promoting positive ideas about their community. The group was encouraged to discuss community issues and talk about how these could be translated into positive messages in their music or lyrics.
The project was first piloted in July 2003 and proved successful producing an album with five tracks (LBP vol.1) and was distributed to the local young people free of charge. From this project, the young people involved expressed a keen interest in developing the project further, in July 2004 took ownership and helped organise the Let’s Be Positive Volume II Album Project, which resulted in 11 tracks being produce with over 30 young people taking part. There was a possibility of the project not being run again the following summer, due to lack of funding. The young people were disappointed and felt in order to keep the momentum of the group going, they would empower themselves by developing and evolving into a constituted group and becoming the LBP Youth Group, run by young people for young people. The young people amongst themselves elected a Management Committee of 13 members, between the ages of 13 to 21 years to run the organisation.
During summer 05 The LBP Youth Group obtain funding to produce the Let’s Be Positive vol. 3. As result of the LBP Youth Group summer Albums, young people have produce music which is rich in sustains and cantinas some powerful messages. They have dealt with issues such as gun crime (LBP vol. 2 track 7), the war in Iraq (LBP vol. 3 track 1) and the July Bombings in London (LBP vol.3 track 11).
The LBP Youth Group ethos is, Be Positive. Its aims are, to use music and other creative arts to promote a positive message/feeling to engage young people’s participation within projects, to empower young people in decision-making and taking ownership and responsibility of their learning and to challenge young people if necessary to see through new views.
Last year the LBP Youth Group received a 2006 Philip Lawrence Awards for their work and have appeared on the BBC London News, LBC Radio and a story has been written about the group in the Independent Newspaper.
This Year the LBP Youth Group are launching the LBP Vol. 4 Album, On November 2nd 2007 at the Bernie Grant Arts centre door open from 6pm to 11pm. The event is entitle Music Comedy Fusion. There will be performances from the LBP members from the up and coming CD and comedy from Richard Blackwood Choice Fm, Wayne 'Dibbi' Rollins Choice FM, Felix Dexter The Real McCoy, Felix Donna Spence Award winning comedienne and Quincy Award winning comedian.
There are 200 free tickets available. To register for your free ticket please contact Yemi Akinfenwa, Youth Project Manager for New Deal for Community, Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays between 1pm to 4pm on 07870 157 779
To find out more click here: Lets be positive flyer - 110Kb, Word
