What We Do
RoadWorks uses music and social science to engage with young people.
Our vision is to make education inclusive and accessible to all whilst providing the next generation with the tools to reach their full potential.
Why?
The British education system needs a new way of preparing young people in society.
Our underfunded schools and youth services are ill-equipped to deal with the way that modern cultural production shapes how young people think, behave and interact.
How?
We collaborate with young people to co-investigate their social reality and treat all musical genres with criticism, intrigue and intellectual respect.
We run workshops and create digital resources to improve participants’ personal, social, and academic capacities to understand, think critically and communicate about their place in British society.
We improve participants’ employability and practical understanding of the modern workplace through careers workshops, focusing on transferrable skills such as digital marketing and conflict management.
We support young people to write, record and market their own original music and video content.
We provide sustained mentorship from industry-leading professionals in the London music scene.
We design bespoke training for educators to maximise the reach of our programme.
Pilot - August 2019
The pilot RoadWorks course was delivered at Livity in Brixton, South London. It brought together ten young men ranging in age from 16 to 23.
It started with four workshops exploring UK drill music. The first half of each workshop focused on an academic subject. The second half of each workshop focused on a careers skill, led by a visiting music-industry expert.
A) History (hiphop lineage) + Marketing (Mixtape Madness)
B) Sociology (digital mediation) + Management (Finesse Foreva)
C) Philosophy (Ethics, Plato’s Cave & The Panopticon) + Performance (HighRise Theatre)
D) Politics (music as resistance) + Videography (Pacman TV)
The group then spent two afternoons writing and recording music at The Digital Holdings recording studio in Lewisham, South-East London. The pilot concluded with the filming of a music video for their single ‘Roadworks’, shot by industry-leading UK drill director, Pacman TV.
What our partners say…
SoundSkool Music College
"RoadWorks provide a professional, caring and understanding approach towards working with young people. Using both Ciaran and Reveal's extensive knowledge of the modern music world, and their natural affinity with hard to reach young people, the RoadWorks workshops have been some of the most enjoyable and informative sessions we've had this year" - Samuel Conley, SoundSkool Enrichment Manager.
Beachcroft AP Academy, St John’s Wood
"RoadWorks were an instant hit with the students at Beachcroft Academy, gaining an easy rapport with them quickly by speaking their language. I've never seem participants so engaged! They gave us a lively session that inspired creative and critical thinking. The whole thing was carefully designed to resonate with our specific group not only in terms of issues raised but also in relation to the kind of artists respected in our area of London. Students were encouraged to express feelings, and helped to consider what steps de-escalate conflict; two very important relevant skills for our group. Ciaran and Reveal bring with them stacks of music knowledge, kudos from working in the industry and connections to big names, gaining them instant respect, but at the same time they bring the youth work skills to be able to make it fun, accessible and appropriate for young people." - Gaynor Smith, Creative Curator for City Lions
Spiral Skills
"Spiral Skills is an organisation working with young people on the fringes of the education system. As part of our year long programme of support for a group of year 10s at Evelyn Grace Academy in Brixton, RoadWorks delivered two blocks of their programme. The team, Revs and Ciaran, were incredibly flexible and creative to adapt their programme to suit the group and the short sessions. The high quality sessions combine relevant engaging content with engaging interactive tasks and topical discussions. The delivery team build rapport with the group quickly and all students wanted to have more of the RoadWorks sessions. There was clear impact and skills progress in the group, and they benefited from exploring issues like social media strategy and personal branding" - Joel Balkwill, CEO of Spiral Skills.
“It’s given me more understanding about stuff I didn’t know about, like the music industry side, and that’s been insightful.”
— Demetri, 19, RoadWorks Ambassador
“I have seen first-hand the impact RoadWorks has had on young people affected by violence, and I know if scaled up it could have real, positive impact on London's young people."
- Sarah Jones, Member of Parliament for Croydon Central & Chair of APPG on Knife Crime
“RoadWorks has been a mixture of conversations that make you think about your surroundings.”
— Jhemar, 17, Roadworks Ambassador