Written by Elsa Monteith, Communications and Marketing Manager, AudioActive
For many young people today, finding somewhere they feel they truly belong isn't easy. Mental health challenges are rising, and at the same time, many of the community spaces for young people that once formed the backbone of local communities have disappeared following years of cuts to youth services. Around 1,200 publicly run youth centres closed across England between 2010 and 2023, while more than 4,500 youth workers left the sector, leaving fewer places where young people can simply spend time, build relationships and access trusted support. Against that backdrop, safe, welcoming spaces where young people can express themselves without judgement have become more important than ever.
Lilly Wolfe’s story and journey with AudioActive
For more than twenty years, AudioActive has worked with young people across Sussex using music as a way to build confidence, creativity and connection. Across Brighton & Hove, Worthing and Crawley, we deliver a programme of free, open-access music sessions for 12 to 25-year-olds, creating consistent spaces where young people can develop creatively while knowing they'll be welcomed exactly as they are.
Over the past few years, we've also been intentional about creating dedicated creative spaces for those communities in regional towns. In Worthing, we transformed a former Dorothy Perkins shop into a vibrant cultural hub with music studios, rehearsal rooms and creative spaces used by young people, local artists, and the wider community alike. In Brighton, our base at Moulsecoomb Place in partnership with East Brighton Trust has strengthened our work in North and East Brighton, ensuring young people have access to high-quality creative opportunities close to home. Most recently, we've opened a space in Crawley's County Mall in partnership with Creative Crawley, bringing free music sessions into the heart of the town. Locating these spaces in the heart of their communities has opened up conversations with young people, parents and local residents who might never otherwise have found us, embedding creativity into the everyday life of each community.
Young person being interviewed about what they want Crawley’s music scene to look like
The importance of those spaces is reflected nationally too. Research commissioned by OnSide found that 93% of young people who had attended a youth centre said it had made a positive difference to their lives, while more than half said they wanted to reduce the amount of time they spent on screens, but 46% felt unable to do so. As opportunities for young people to gather in person continue to decline, creating places where they can build relationships, develop confidence and simply spend time together feels increasingly essential.
Our weekly programme reflects the different ways young people engage with music. Beats & Bars, Production, Soundcheck and Future Selectors alongside other sessions provide regular opportunities for young people to develop creative skills and meet like-minded people. Equaliser creates a dedicated music production space for women and non-binary people helping to address the persistent gender and racial inequalities that continue to shape the music industry. Room to Rant brings young men together to make music and have open conversations about their mental health alongside a trained therapist and experienced music mentors. This autumn, Truth to Power returns once again, using music as a way to explore the issues affecting young people's lives and providing an opportunity for them to be heard and listened to by local decision makers.
Archie and Lennon being interviewed about their experience with Truth to Power Brighton sessions
For those wanting to develop their practice further, our talent acceleration programme EMERGE provides mentoring, industry insight and performance opportunities for artists aged 18-25, helping them build sustainable careers while remaining rooted in the supportive community that first nurtured their creativity. Several EMERGE artists have since gone on to release music through our independent label, MXTR, helping us build fairer routes into the music industry for emerging talent.
Alongside this, SHIFT represents an important next step in our work. Supported by the Youth Endowment Fund and independently evaluated by Cordis Bright, the programme was created to support young people at increased risk of becoming involved in serious violence through long-term music mentoring, while also building a stronger understanding of how and why those trusted relationships contribute to improved wellbeing and life outcomes.
Film created with the Youth Endowment Fund about the SHIFT programme
For years, organisations across the youth, health and cultural sectors have witnessed the transformative impact of creative mentoring. We've seen young people grow in confidence, strengthen their mental wellbeing, reconnect with education, build healthier relationships and develop aspirations for the future. Yet despite those lived experiences, there remains relatively little robust evidence explaining what makes creative mentoring effective, particularly within music. Without a stronger understanding of what works, relationship-based creative programmes can struggle to secure long-term funding or become embedded within education, health and youth policy, despite the outcomes and impact practitioners witness every day.
SHIFT was designed to help address that challenge. Working closely with Cordis Bright, we're combining rigorous evaluation with the lived experiences of the young people, mentors and practitioners involved to build a richer understanding of music mentoring as an evidence-informed intervention. Rather than asking simply whether it works, the programme explores the conditions that allow it to work best: consistent relationships with trusted adults, creative expression, a sense of belonging and safe spaces where young people feel able to engage on their own terms, helping us understand the outcomes and the mechanisms that underpin meaningful change.
Coco and Peggy being interviewed about the importance of performance opportunities and events are for young people
We hope that learning will extend far beyond AudioActive. As demand for youth mental health support continues to grow, and as organisations look for earlier, preventative approaches to supporting young people at risk, there is a growing need for evidence that demonstrates the value of creative interventions. By sharing the findings from SHIFT with youth organisations, schools, local authorities, researchers and policymakers, we hope to contribute to a stronger national evidence base for music mentoring and support wider recognition of creativity and trusted relationships as an integral part of supporting young people's wellbeing and reducing the factors that can place them at risk of serious violence.
In Up the Youth Club, Emma Warren writes that youth spaces "can protect against divide-and-rule, offering deep, long-lasting and protective relationships and training in togetherness." We see those relationships forming every week in our studios, rehearsal rooms and community spaces across Sussex. We believe creative spaces should be recognised as essential community infrastructure because when young people have somewhere to belong, create and be heard, the impact reaches far beyond the music itself. That's the principle that has guided AudioActive for more than twenty years: Making Music. Changing Lives.
Upcoming events and sessions at AudioActive:
● Brighton Summer Sessions in August: 11th (5:30-7:30pm), 18th (5:30-7:30pm), 26th (4:30-6:30pm)
● Crawley Bandstand performances and cypher: 18th August (12pm-5pm)
● Moulsecoomb Place Garden Party with free BBQ and live music: 26th August 6:30-8pm
● Regular sessions begin on Monday 7th September - get involved here!
Website: audioactive.org.uk
Instagram: @audioactive_