The votes have been counted, and our awesome Metal Collective members have made their final decision. Read on to find out about our chosen six amazing community music projects and what they will be doing with the money YOU have helped to raise!
Lancaster Music Festival – Massive Wagons: Forget the Haters Primary School Tour. Lancaster Music Festival CIC (LMF) is a grassroots organisation dedicated to enriching the Lancaster community through the power of music. The annual festival, held in over 50 venues across the city in October, draws over 60,000 attendees and showcases a diverse range of genres. The festival highlights local musical talent while inviting international acts and fostering a vibrant music scene in Lancaster. In addition to the festival, LMF runs year-round community projects and workshops for people of all ages, collaborating with schools, community groups, and local organisations.
LMF have been awarded £3000 towards the Massive Wagons: Forget the Haters Primary School Tour, which aims to combat bullying through music. Wagons’ lead singer Barry Mills was himself a victim of bullying throughout school and songs from their top 5 album Triggered! have an anti-bullying message. The aim is to launch the 2025 schools programme in Spring with a Massive Wagons ‘tour’ around Morecambe Bay primary schools, visiting 6 schools to deliver the anti-bullying workshops to KS2 pupils in school halls. The sessions are packaged like a proper rock tour with tour posters and merchandise for each child (poster, stickers and badges, all with anti-bullying messages). The aim of the project is to increase the awareness of bullying, the effects it can have and ways to prevent it. The workshops promote self-worth, self-confidence, and a sense that the children can have control of the things in their lives.
Heads Above The Waves is a mental health organisation focused on providing creative coping mechanisms for young people, particularly those who struggle with self-harm. Founded in 2013 by Si, who replaced self-harm with playing drums as a coping strategy, the organisation draws heavily on the power of music to bring people together and help them express their emotions. Through its roots in the alternative music scene, Heads Above The Waves aims to offer support by emphasising the therapeutic role of music in overcoming dark times.
Heads Above The Waves will receive £2000 to grow its workshops for young people aged 11-18 in schools across South Wales.
Patchwork Studios was established in 2018 on the Rame Peninsula in Southeast Cornwall, is a creative community centre providing a recording studio, performance venue, and art gallery. The rural area, home to approximately five thousand residents, suffers from hidden deprivation, overshadowed by affluence from tourism and second homes. Founded by musicians and artists who grew up locally, Patchwork Studios aims to support young people by offering creative outlets that prevent boredom and anti-social behaviour. It serves as the only venue of its kind for miles, providing a vital space for self-expression, skill-building, and social engagement, which is crucial for the mental health and well-being of the community.
Patchwork Studios will receive £2000 for their flagship project, Youth Music Lab, which engages local young people aged 7-16 in music production, instrument learning, and performance, with weekly workshops that foster confidence, creativity, and collaboration.
MEWso: Hear My Voice, an initiative which looks to bring together migrant women and refugees to form a choir and provide a safe space to express themselves, have been awarded £1000.
Multicultural Cumbria: One Voice Multicultural Choir, a collective bringing together people of diverse heritages to sing as one, promoting social bonds and reducing isolation, have been awarded £1000.
Arts Connection – Cyswllt Celf: No Strings Attached, a project which aims to engage young people (aged 11-18) in North Powys in music-making activities, have been awarded £1000.
