The Hive, a charity organisation based in Shropshire has been awarded £15,120 by the Coronavirus Community Support fund to extend its MYC Music project, which targets young adults aged 16-30 who may be experiencing anxiety or at risk of loneliness. 

The project which provides an opportunity for participants to work alongside professional musicians, writing, playing and recording music, underwent drastic changes in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the closure of The Hive’s venue, all of the sessions moved online via Zoom and the results have been a resounding success.

Katie Jennings, The Hive’s CEO said: “This was new territory for us, but we quickly adapted as we felt it was vitally important, especially during lockdown to continue this project as it has such an emphasis on wellbeing. It quickly became clear that the online setup worked extremely well. Both the participants and workshop leaders got a lot out of the sessions, producing an incredible song and music video.”

Over the course of the lockdown, the project participants and workshop leaders wrote, recorded and created a professionally filmed music video for the song ‘Lifeblood’ which is about the group’s experiences of loneliness and isolation, in particular during such a difficult time.

Kathleen Jones, a project participant said: “With the pandemic, I was going through a really bad time. My anxiety was really bad and I was struggling with not being able to go out. It’s a bit different over Zoom, but I was really relieved when I heard it was happening. When I have my Hive sessions online, everything bad just disappears straight away. All my worries go. I just focus on the music.”

Thanks to the additional £15,120 funding from the Coronavirus Community Support Fund to extend the MYC Music project, the organisation will be able to work with more 16 – 30-year-olds across Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin experiencing anxiety as well as starting an additional weekly session which young adults can access by referral.

Katie Jennings added, “This additional funding gives us a fantastic opportunity to continue this project and expand it to include more young adults across the region. Now more than ever, there is a need for creative projects to bring together people facing challenging circumstances, and we’re pleased we can do this with MYC Music.”

For the foreseeable future MYC Music will continue running via Zoom, providing the participants with vital support and connection from peers. To find out more about this project and The Hive’s work, please visit www.hiveonline.org.uk