Bristol hub aims to bring 'music to life' for young people

The musical initiative is for young people aged from four to 25

An education hub aimed at bringing "music to life" for young people has been launched in Bristol.

The Bristol Plays Music hub will offer services for four to 25-year-olds at the Colston Hall and in schools.

Siggy Patchitt of Bristol Music Trust, which runs the hall, said the idea was to make the city the "UK capital of young people's music" by 2020.

He said the hub would bring "young people closer to the process and business part of making music".

The centre's programme will be run both in and out of school time and will offer professional music mentors, instruments and places to rehearse.

Mr Patchitt said the trust wanted to "provide additional opportunities to the established route to a career in music - which could include working as a composer, a stagehand or with computer games".

"The idea of bringing all of these initiatives under one roof is to position young people closer to the process and business part of making music."

'Opportunity to experience'

The Bristol Music Trust charity was set up in 2011 when it took over the management of the Colston Hall from the council.

Bristol City Council transferred the running of Bristol's music education service to the trust in September.

When the transfer was announced in July, councillor Brenda Massey said that moving the service would "help it to secure funding in the future and develop its reputation as a regional centre of excellence for music".

The Bristol Music Trust is being funded by Arts Council England until April 2015.

South West area director Phil Gibby said the hub would "ensure that even those children in the most challenging social and economic circumstances are given the opportunity to experience the richness of the arts and develop their own skills".