Stars of Shieldfield!

The songs have been developed with young people from our popular Shieldfield Youth Programme, formed in 2021 with Dwellbeing, in response to a lack of local provision for young people in our area. It is now attended weekly by over 60 local children, young people, and their families.

This year, the young people aged 10 and over, have formed Shieldfield Youth Voice, exploring music and social action with musician and rapper Kema Kay. Kema’s own passion for rap, singing, and song writing developed in a local youth project, where he spent most of his time as a teen.

Shieldfield Youth Voice is funded by #iwill – a national fund intended to support young people to take part in high quality social action that builds a habit for life. We hope by engaging young people in projects like this, which focus on change in their local area, they gain confidence and feel they have agency to make change in their future.

Over the summer, Kema has supported the young people to write, perform, and produce songs about the need for local change. The group met regularly to reflect on their experiences, learn new skills, and create new music. They have gained knowledge of social action, raising their voices, calling to be valued and not underestimated – “we don’t get much but we have got a lot to give”!

In early sessions, they talked together about growing up and living in Shieldfield, the things they love, the things they want to see change, and the ways they can work together to achieve this. These conversations were used as a starting point to write lyrics and create songs. Together they rapped and produced three new songs in Kema’s studio, reflecting “we want to feel like what we do is important, that it’s not just for NewBridge but the whole community.”