StagePass Imagine Molly (15 years and 4 months old) who is strumming her guitar in her bedroom in Inishowen or Daan (16 years of age) who is beating a drum to a different beat in Friesland. They are tuned out from their peer group - the people in their classroom, those walking outside in the school yard, those on the school bus. They are watching their peers on snapchat, glancing at their feeds on Instagram or locating them on SnapMaps - but they are not connecting. They feel they have little in common with the InstaQueens, the team shots from the football club, the birthday gatherings or the nights out at local disco. StagePass is all about tapping into their creativity and growing and polishing their skill set so they can connect, record, play together and perform together for us all to enjoy. Using digital connections, for now because of COVID-19, and building capacity and the ‘virtual’ infrastructure as a digital readiness element, StagePass will be a space where they will participate, grow their confidence and share in intercultural learning. StagePass is targeting – teens who are in education - they are predominantly tuned out from their peers but tuned into the sound of music. At risk from isolation and being disconnected and engaging only with a virtual world of too many unknowns – too many disconnects - too many broken promises. StagePass offers a chance to put a spotlight onto promoting their positive mental health and well-being and taking it forward as they connect and reconnect. In line with the Erasmus+ goals StagePass will be about improving a core set of key competences and skills in tandem with promoting European values - respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights. The partners involved will engage with the young people (aged 14-17yrs old x 12+ students per partner = 60+), educators (primarily schools through Transition Year (TY) but also VET - Leaving Cert Applied or YouthReach x #8), industry and employers to develop a pathway through school to employment be that in performance arts or otherwise. These are young people who have a passion for music or a glimmering interest at the very least. StagePass will reinforce creativity in education and take this opportunity to develop learning tools, resources, or training that foster creativity, culture and multiculturalism through the sound of music. Young people will be engaged as active citizens in their own destiny and future through the arts. They will learn the skills delivered by their creative educators (Music, Art, Design, Technology, Woodwork, Technical drawing, fabrication) alongside the music industry performance and production experts. There will be curriculum, training and education packs developed in core hands on arenas such as:- 1. Social Media and young influencers 2. Digital skills and production 3. Communications and PR 4. Performance skillset 5. Commercialisation - user experience 6. Entrepreneurship mindset (‘gig’ economy synergies with session musicianship) Their music will be developed, practiced, performed, produced and aired. This will be supported by a series of Masterclasses delivered by industry experts in areas such as music production, sound and songwriting as examples. There will be five mini events to showcase their work in development - 5Tunes5Countries. They will work towards a pan European performance at a festival/concerts – #TuneIn #StagePass. There will be outputs such as StagePass lanyards, wellies, Ponchos, branded hoodies, beanie hats, etc, all the things young people would need for a festival. StagePass will establish virtual networks and collaboration models to stimulate intercultural engagement and encourage creative mind-sets. COVID-19 permitting a team of educators and learners will travel to partner countries to promote learning opportunities in creative spaces and cultural heritage sites. This will include creative residencies for musicians, producers and influencers. StagePass will be using digital ways of creating, managing, and delivering creative products, cultural goods and events. The project will be approached as a pilot test/proof of concept and will have a radical difference approach to previous ErasmusPlus projects by delivering outputs to the students at each stage of their development to be implemented using a UX (user experience approach). StagePass will be a test bed from which StagePass can be replicated and scaled and further projects can develop to a wider target audience of school children. Work Packages with Intellectual Outputs (IO) IO1 Proof of Concept Parameters and Regional Engagement IO2 Teachers Programmes and Student Digital Learning Packs IO3 Totaliser Platform IO4 Curriculum Development IO5 Community and Performances Platform StagePass values are intercultural learning, participation and confidence. We will grow these in the students participating in this innovative project.
Keywords: - StagePass Partnership established and strengthening; Team Charter agreed; Project Handbook finalised; music at the core; schools on board; young people engaged; StagePass becoming a reality; learning about the music industry through Master Classes; linking on Sound Trap; learning about music locally; Transnational Planning and postponement of Polish trip in January 2022; and the LTTA week and first TNPM held for Liberation Festival Leeuwarden, The Netherlands May 2nd to 6th 2022; Cohort 1 completed and celebrated; Cohort 2 recruited through Multiplier Events across 4 partner countries; Stakeholders engaged; TNPMs scheduled and completed for Poland, The Netherlands, Northern Ireland and Ireland; LTTA held in Derry, Northern Ireland in February 2023; Final Partner Gathering in Inishowen in April 2023 – a space to review and celebrate a strong partnership.
The StagePass concept was developed by IDP, with support from ENW, and the other partners at application stage in October 2020 with the ultimate plan to have #4Tunes4Countries. This was 8 months into the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Once successful the start date agreed was June 1st, 2021 – at a time when there continued to be so much uncertainty, anxiety, loss, and restrictions because of COVID-19. During the month of June 2021, IDP as the lead partner, put in place the Project Management systems needed and carried out one-to-one online meetings and calls with the partners in The Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Poland, and Ireland. Getting to grips with the StagePass concept has been different for all partners and it has been agreed to offer tailored approaches locally, connecting online and using the Sound Trap Platform to share their music and learning and build relationships and for all the preparatory work happening across 4 countries to culminate in a performance for two cohorts of young people. Have a look at : - About StagePass – StagePassEU (stagepassmusic.eu)