What goes on at Pedestrian?

Could you first introduce yourself for the reader?

Hello, my name is Kate Rounding and I am the Project Manager at Pedestrian. We are an arts education charity based in Leicester

What happens at Pedestrian?

Since 1998 Pedestrian have been working with young people in Leicester and across the East Midlands delivering workshops in a range of creative arts subjects and engaging young people in creative activities such as music making, visual arts and photography, video production and graffiti. We are also an Alternative Education Provider, and deliver accredited courses in creative art and photography, sound and music production and business skills for young people throughout term time.

What do you offer to young people?

Young people can take part in a range of creative projects, develop skills and gain qualifications such as Arts Award. We also support trainee tutors, Arts Awards advisors and music leaders. At our premises in Leicester City centre we offer drop in sessions, intensive residencies and we often work off-site in theatres, schools and community settings.

Projects we run regularly include: Perfect Score – a music project for young people in which they can learn about the range of roles in the music industry, develop original music and showcase their recordings and performances at Perfect Score - The Young People’s music conferences.

Concept is another music project where young people can work intensively with industry professionals to create an album of music in a week- long residency.

During summer we run a creative arts Summer School and weekly Saturday Sessions where young people of all ages can get creative and learn about photography, mixed media and visual arts. .

What activities are most popular for young people and why?

Music is always a popular activity and we have several large scale projects offering music creation, development, performance and industry progression opportunities for young people aged 13 to 25 years old.

Photography, digital media and video projects are always well attended and working cross art-form is also very popular - for example we worked with the young people at The Leicester LGBT centre to create a unity quilt which was carried at the 2018 pride progression and a range of installations at the Pride celebration where the young people also performed poetry, spoken word and music performances live to the festival audience

Could you give an example of a recent project you have run, and the impact it had?

Perfect score is a popular project here at Pedestrian. It has supported young people to work with music industry professionals in a series of ‘Press Start’ music workshops, develop their music and to record at RedBull Studios in London. The young people took part in a fantastic music career conference and were able to showcase their music to industry representatives from UK Music.

Have you seen any changes in the industry over the last few years? Is it positive or negative?

Although the economic climate has proved challenging for organisations like Pedestrian there has been a noticeable and positive shift to a more collaborative and joined up approach across the region. We enjoy working with many great arts and well-being organisations and this joined up approach is helping to ensure there are a number of genuine and positive progression opportunities available for the young people we support.

The creative economy is one of the UK’s most buoyant sectors and we encourage young people and young professionals to develop their creative skills, which are proven to enhance transferable skills and qualities that employers are looking for.

Do you run Arts Award or offer a Trinity College qualification? If so, what do you offer and how can young people get involved?

Yes, we offer Arts Award at all levels. Young people can get involved in a number of ways. Through specific projects such as Concept and Perfect Score, and we are also able to support through attendance at some of our events such as Perfect Score – The Young People’s Music Careers Conference. We also liaise closely with organisations such as The Leicester Virtual School to support young people to gain the Arts Award through their creative interests.

Are you an Arts Award Supporter? If so, what do you offer to young people doing Arts Award?

We are not officially an Arts Award supporter but Arts Award is very much embedded in our projects and throughout our work. We are currently delivering arts award in a number of venues including The Core at Corby Cube and supporting others to deliver the award in Leicester.

Do you publish any online resources that young people doing Arts Award or Trinity College qualifications could use?

Yes, if you are interested in music, or a career in the music industry, see our website for resources on how you could achieve criteria from Arts Award by attending Perfect Score or similar events and workshops. We also have a range of studies, reports and evaluations available.

Is there anything you particularly want to promote to young people at the moment?

We are excited to announce that our next Perfect Score – The Young People’s Music Conference will be held at Curve Theatre in Leicester on Friday January 24th 2020 from 10am to 2pm. Supported by The Creative Industries Federation and UK Music this event is open to schools, colleges and community groups who are interested in finding out more about a career in the Music Industry.

We will have speakers and panellists from UK Music and CIF, beatbox and DJ workshops, and exhibits from the industry and education sectors. We also have some fantastic musicians and producers who will be performing their music at the event.

Please contact [email protected] to find out more and to book your place.