With the first official Rap for Good workshop completed, it’s a good time to reflect and evaluate how it’s going so far.
It’s only been 5 weeks since Rap for Good was announced and we’ve achieved a lot in that time. The start was later than anticipated but we’re on track with everything and making progress every day.
The idea for 2023 is to lay the foundations for a long-lasting and sustainable programme, to test ideas and learn. To ensure Rap for Good is community-led and responsive to need, the project will be shaped by the families, organisations and young people that participate, guided by our eight objectives, which were written with help from stakeholders.
Some of the activity in the last five weeks has included:
- Lots of meetings with local organisations and charities about collaboration.
- Workshops in the calendar for May and August, with talks ongoing for October and November.
- Social media pages created.
- Certificates and stickers for participants designed and printed.
- Brand new industry-standard SM58 microphones acquired with stands and cables.
- First session designed, delivered and evaluated.
Workshop 1
Hosted by the brilliant Musicular Instrumental Arts, based at The Enterprise Hub in Bradford, the first workshop was an entirely new experience for everyone involved.
One of the aims of Rap for Good is to provide a more in-depth experience for aspiring rappers and to test different activities in different environments to find out what works. Each will have new elements and will build on findings from previous sessions.
What’s new?
There were several notable factors that made this one different from Wilko Wilkes schools workshops such as:
- All the participants were musicians.
- The introduction of talking circles (similar to how we do them at Andy’s Man Club).
- The ages of participants ranged from 8 to 15.
- It was held on a Sunday.
- Access to computers facilitated beat-making and production.
- Feedback forms were collected, stickers and certificates were given.
Key Learnings
- Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with room for improvement.
- Timings on most sections were about right.
- Talking circles were popular.
- It may be good to allocate some time for exploring the music business.
- More support is required for those who struggle with writing, literacy or thinking of ideas for lyrics.
- There is demand for more learning on the digital/practical side of things such as vocal production, music production and how to release music.
- The feedback form can be improved.
What’s next?
The next Rap for Good session will be held in Keighley in May and will have an open onboarding process. The session will incorporate new elements based on the above findings.
Plans are brewing for the rest of the year including staging events at some very exciting venues which will give participants the chance to rap on stage with powerful sound-systems and special guests.
There are a million things we would like to add to the programme to make this as good as it can be! Please get in touch with Wilko if you would like to learn more or get involved.
You can follow the journey @RapforGoodUK on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.
