Colston Hall education's youth programme Remix has secured £240k from The Monument Trust to create a 3-year youth ensemble project for Bristol. 

Remix will be working in partnership with a variety of organisations to deliver this innovative and exciting project starting in September 2011. Over the 3 years the ensemble is aiming to work with 80 young people aged between 11 and 25 yrs old. The young people involved will be referred to the project by schools, youth clubs and voluntary agencies making the Remix Ensemble project different to traditional ‘classical’ ensembles.  

All participants will have mixed musical ability and the ensemble will draw on the cultural diversity of the city by fusing several genres of musical tradition such as Indie and Funk to Hip Hop and Grime with new technology, diverse composition and arranging techniques.

The programme, which has strong mentoring and peer mentoring focus, will concentrate not only on musical development but also on life skills, emotional awareness and self-confidence, increasing empathy and the self-esteem of young people to make positive life choices

Mijanou Blech Head of Education at Colston Hall said “We are delighted to have confirmation of funding from the Monument Trust. It will enable us to inspire young people by bridging the gap between the cultural institution of the concert hall and potential new younger audiences, bringing new musical experiences to a much wider community.”