Celebrating Somerset’s creative & cultural practitioners: Mark Scott

Evolve Music is a community music charity that provides regular music-making activities across the South West for communities that are under-represented, rurally isolated and in need of positive activities that can support improvements in their health and wellbeing. The organisation was founded 7 years ago by Ben and Beth Vleminckx, supporting community groups in and around the Radstock area. Over the past few years the programmes have developed substantially and they are now working in Bristol, Weston-super-Mare, Bath, Frome, Radstock, Yeovil, Plymouth and Newton Abbot, providing activities for early years children and their families as well as neurodiverse young people and adults. Often this work is developed in collaboration with local support services such as children's centres, early years settings, local youth and community groups as well as creative arts organisations.

Mark has been a Community Music Leader and Project Manager in the charitable sector for the past 15 years and joined the Evolve team around 5 years ago and has been supporting the development of their programmes for neurodiverse young people and adults and families with early years children. Mark tells me “Playing and listening to music has always been incredibly important to me. I've seen first hand the many positive impacts it can have on people, no matter what your background or circumstance is and I firmly believe that everyone should have the opportunity to explore and experience music-making.”

I asked Mark to tell me a little about Sound Lab. “sound Lab is an after-school programme designed specifically for neurodiverse young people aged 14+ and those with learning disabilities to come together and socialise, explore music and be creative. Sessions provide opportunities for participants to take part in music-making that they may not have experienced before; from performance and songwriting to music technology and recording, using traditional instrumentation as well as accessible music-making tools and technologies. As well as supporting participants on their musical journey, the sessions also look to support them personally through developing their social skills and support networks and improving wellbeing.”

The sessions are run by 2 highly experienced Community Music Leaders and an Access & Inclusion worker, with activities tailored to the needs and interests of the young people that attend. Participants don't need to have any prior musical experience or knowledge to join the group, just an interest in music and desire to meet new people.

I asked Mark about what he has learned from his work in this area, “We’ve been running Sound Lab in Radstock for around 4 years now so we already had a lot of experience and knowledge about how music supports neurodiverse young people, however, each participant group will have individuals with different experiences, backgrounds and needs so we are always learning about how we can improve what we offer in order to best cater for their needs. 

There's not a one-size-fits-all model of delivery when we're working with this target group, which is in many ways the beauty of it as each programme will be different, which is exciting. We give participants a lot of opportunities to lead activities and take them in the direction they want. 

What this programme has done is reaffirmed our knowledge that music can connect people who come from different backgrounds and with different needs and it's powerful as it helps these young people express themselves in a way they're not able to otherwise.”

Evolve Music is always looking at ways in which they can develop the programmes and support those in rural communities where opportunities to engage in music-making is often limited. Their priority is to ensure that what they do offer is sustainable so that those who have come to rely on their provisions can continue to be supported and improve musically and personally.

“This year, not only have we been able to develop Sound Lab in Yeovil, but we have also recently launched Flow Music Club, a monthly programme for neurodiverse adults and those with learning disabilities. Flow Music Club takes place from The GateWay on Thursday evenings and, like Sound Lab, is a fun and social programme where we explore music-making through performance, songwriting and technology. We had a great turnout for our first session in March and anyone interested in attending or wanting more information can get in touch: mark@evolvemusic.org.uk"

Music can be a huge support mechanism for anyone, but it can be particularly important for neurodiverse young people and those that struggle socially or find it difficult to communicate or express themselves in other ways. 

Mark believes it's so important that music is accessible and that people have the freedom to explore a range of music-making so that they can discover what works best for them/helps them the most. 

“Music is also great at bringing people together. There are so many bands/artists new and old that I discover when working with new groups - it's such a powerful social tool and you can always learn more!  For anyone looking to find out more about the programme and whether it would be the right fit for their child, they can get in touch with me directly. They would also be welcome to attend a taster session ahead of joining the group and parents/carers are also welcome to attend the sessions. Further information about Sound Lab, Flow Music Club and our other work areas can be found on our website: www.evolvemusic.org.uk “