Trust and participation

Trust is such an enormous part of our music work. 

The young people who come to play music with us need to trust us.
We need to create a safe space that makes everyone who enters it feel they can trust us to provide support, encouragement and diverse creative opportunities.
The act of improvised, lived music making itself cannot happen with trust.
As an organisation, we need to trust in each other to share an agreement on what is good, a general perspective, and how to work with whatever arises.

Recently we discussed the tensions that go into making a successful, user-led, creative environment.
Trust underpins all of this:

• ownership / shared identity
• joy / challenge
• flexibility / familiarity
• risk / safety
• shared experienced / personalised experience
•  communication / inspiration
• suspense / reassurance
• stimulation / rest

Trust enables participation.
Lawrence Becko, former Sound Connections Programme Manager, writes about Youth Participation in the arts:
'sometimes we simply forget to listen to what young people are saying, believing 'adults know best'...Ultimately, the extent to which youth participation, voice and leadership can be encouraged will depend on the abilities, commitment, resources and 'buy in' of each organization, their staff, and the young people themselves.'

As Wired4Music say,

'By  taking ownership over their musical participation, young people can

voice their opinions freely, achieve more and get the most out  of  a  project  that has  been  designed  specifically  to  suit  their  needs.  In return,  organisations  can gain  new perspective  and  understanding  of  the  young  people they’re working with, save  money  and resources by  creating projects  that  will  be  successful for  their  participants and  support  young  people  to  create  new  opportunities  for themselves and progress within their own musical journeys.'