Budding young musicians will be able to enjoy even more opportunities at Norwich performing arts venue The Garage thanks to a new specially-adapted rehearsal room.
The new music space has been created from a former office at the Chapel Field North venue and it was officially opened yesterday by the city's Lord Mayor, David Fullman, the Sheriff of Norwich, David Walker, and young musician and The Garage patron Finn Doherty who also gave an acoustic performance to mark the occasion.
The transformation - which has included soundproofing the room and equipping it with specialist music equipment storage space - has been funded by part of £500,000 Youth Investment Fund grant that The Garage is being awarded over three years to give more young people the chance to experience the arts.
It is the first time The Garage has had a dedicated music space, with classes previously held in the venue's dance studios, and executive director Adam Taylor said it provided a big boost for the venue's music programmes.
'It's a catalyst of change in terms of our music provision,' he said.
'The ability for us to have a dedicated space for us to work with young musicians, both in a group and individually with one-on-one tuition, means we are able to work with more musicians and we are able to grow our music footprint.'
He said the new space was benefitting young musicians of all ages and abilities, and that since it started being used last term The Garage has already been able to run two additional music classes.
One of the key strands of The Garage's music activity is its Musicians Development Programme which is for young people aged 14 to 25 who want to take their music or singing to the next level.
Finn Doherty, a rising music star, credits the programme with helping him to launch his singer-songwriter career, and he has become patron of The Garage as a way of saying thank you. He said: 'I'm really excited to be working with The Garage as their patron, I've been working with them for nearly four years so it's just great that I can continue doing that. I've always enjoyed and supported the work they do, especially with young people.'
The Youth Investment Fund, which helped to pay for the ne music space, is funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Big Lottery Fund.
For more about events and courses at The Garage, visit www.thegarage.org.uk
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