Hybrid 3 Studios Amplifies Their Offer
“This funding means that we will have the very best facilities to uplift the voices of young people.”
Hybrid 3 Studios is no ordinary rehearsal and recording space. As a third-sector organisation, community is at the heart of what they do. Their mission? To make the world of music and sound accessible to everyone.
Listening to local need
Based in Sheffield, Hybrid 3 Studios provide an affordable venue that young people can use for rehearsal, recording and tutoring services.
Managing Director, Matt Ritchie, explains: “We’re passionate about tapping into undiscovered local talent, giving a platform to young people’s voices through workshops, music lessons and development opportunities.
“Our target beneficiaries are young people who live in areas of social and economic deprivation and live in low-income households. These young people do not get the same opportunities as their peers, and we offer wrap around support packages to help them engage and benefit from our activities.”
Amplifying the offer
The focus of Hybrid 3 Studios’ youth provision is to introduce young people to creative industries and to develop their skills by providing real-world opportunities to grow as artists.
“The Better Youth Spaces grant has massively helped us upgrade our equipment so that we can give young people more access to industry standard tools for making music. Giving them access to this kind of equipment increases the quality of our tutoring builds their confidence and helps them envision themselves as artists.
“We are very grateful to Better Youth Spaces for helping us expand our offerings.”
New programs
“We’re running a new series of artist development programs specifically for young people aged 10-18,” explains Matt. “The goal is to uplift the voices of young people through workshops, music lessons and development opportunities, with roots to the industry and pathways to future careers.”
For 10–14-year-olds, this will operate as an open access space for young people to attend workshops, learn new skills, network, jam, and spend time in a professional studio environment with mentors and coaches.
For 14–18-year-olds, participants will receive a more structured program of:
• Professional mentoring and band coaching
• Gig and recording opportunities
• Networking opportunities
• Exclusive masterclasses
• Marketing support
Young people instrumental in shaping projects
Hybrid 3 Studio hold youth meetings where they co-design projects with young people. Feedback from young people is used to plan projects and activities in the future, and they use circle time to encourage young people to bring forward ideas and critically think about how activities would benefit them most.
“To help run the new programs we are recruiting members of a Youth Board where young people can have a say in the future of Sheffield’s music scene and beyond.
Music to their ears
“We felt so lucky to be awarded the Better Youth Spaces grant. It has come at a very pinnacle time for our organisation as we’ve seen a huge increase in our youth work and it means that we will have the very best facilities to deliver high quality work to the people who use our space.” Matt Ritchie, Managing Director.
And the young people who use the studio agree: “It’s really helpful to have all this new equipment and to be able to give young people access to industry standard equipment to build our confidence.” Rico Dobrodumow.