AMP just launched a 10 part series in Wiretap Magazine dissecting some of the most successful youth music organizations in the US.
In 2007, fourteen youth, music, arts and activism organizations participated in peer exchanges. The purpose: To spotlight and share tips and tricks of DIY and grassroots youth music organizations. Though there are hundreds to choose from, we decided on ten organizations that illustrate the spectrum of the burgeoning network of organizations putting cultural creation and access in the hands of young people.
We focused on a different aspect of each organization--their most compelling story or characteristic that other organizers could learn from. They include:
• 924 Gilman (Berkeley, CA) - Participatory Structure
• Neutral Zone (Ann Arbor, MI) - Youth Involvement
• Youth Movement Records (Oakland, CA) - Youth Recording Prorgram
• Cave Nine Music and Arts (Birmingham, AL) - All-ages Music Show Production
• ABC No Rio (New York, NY) - Space Trials and Tribulations
• AS220/Broad Street Studios (Providence, RI) - $$
• Batey Urbano (Chicago, IL) - Neighborhood Connections
• Vera Project (Seattle, WA) - Building Relationships with Local Government
• Elementz Hip Hop Youth Arts Center (Cincinnati, OH) - Getting Start Up Help
• The Spot (Denver, CO) - Providing support to new organizations
These organizations range from 30-year-old veterans of the field to newcomers putting a powerful new spin on the marriage of youth, art and activism. Most importantly, they are making it, and coming up with crafty ways of doing it.
All stories are researched and written by members of organizations similarly using independent music -- punk, hip hop, rock, noise, electronic, and more -- as a vehicle for change on the personal, music scene, and broader community levels.