News
Monday 14 January 2008
Music project bringing generations together
A new project is seeking to bridge the generation divide through a shared love of music. Talking About Old Records – being developed by Nottingham Trent University in partnership with the Charity Shop DJ initiative – is bringing teenagers and pensioners together through a range of interactive workshops which involve recalling the music of yesteryear through performance on today’s state-of-the-art equipment.
The project, being led from the university’s School of Arts and Humanities, gives young and old participants the chance to use the equipment and share conversations about what music means to them. The pilot for the project has already brought together members of the Staveley Seniors’ forum and the Aurora Music Project in Derbyshire.
Dr Matt Connell, a social theorist and DJ who lectures on the university’s new BA (Hons) Media course, has teamed up with artist Andy Jupp, who tours the UK as the ‘Charity Shop DJ’, playing old records he finds in charity shops. Andy, who is supported by The Arts Council East Midlands, aims to encourage people to celebrate who they are through the music they love.
Originally established as an investigation into memory, identity and intergenerational communication, recordings and photographs are forming a research archive and the findings will also be discussed by students on the new Media degree.
There are now hopes to roll out the project nationally as it has just received funding from the Stimulating Innovation for Success (SIS) programme, developed to incorporate collaboration between the university and business.
Dr Connell said: “Our pilot project in Derbyshire was very well received by both the younger and older participants, and is generating a great deal of interest from local councils and museums. We have a lot of ideas on how to take the project into its next phase, including academic outcomes, community arts events and various exhibition possibilities – 2008 promises to be an exciting and busy year for Charity Shop DJ and myself.”
ENDS
Notes for editors:
The Aurora Music Project’s participation in the project was facilitated by North East Derbyshire District Council.
For more information about the Stimulating Innovation for Success programme visit http://www.ntu.ac.uk/bic/consultancy_grant_support/sis/index.html
For Charity Shop DJ visit http://www.charityshopdj.com/
For the Aurora Music Project visit www.auroramusicproject.org.uk
For more on Dr Matt Connell’s DJ teaching, academic research and the new Media degree, contact matt.connell@ntu.ac.uk
Press enquiries please contact: Dave Rogers, Press Officer, on Tel: 0115 848 8782, or via email: dave.rogers@ntu.ac.uk
Or Therese Easom, Press and Media Relations Manager, on Tel: 0115 848 8774, or via email: therese.easom@ntu.ac.uk
