Capeesh CIC's Sponsored Busk-a-thon

Hi, my name is Elliot Gill and I am a freelance tutor/mentor for Capeesh CIC (a not-for-profit, grass roots, music youth project).

I am also guitarist for the Liverpool band, STONE.

Capeesh (Liverpool) CIC seeks to motivate and enable young people (aged 11-25) to acquire and grow skills and confidence; increasing chances of deriving enjoyment and income, through direct or indirect involvement with music.

We work with our collaborators (particularly Harthill Youth Centre and Liverpool Targeted Youth Support Services) to provide music tuition, mentoring and performance opportunities to young people who might otherwise encounter barriers in accessing such opportunities.

Our team of passionate young musicians aged 18-30 volunteer to provide tuition and musical encouragement to our students. Part of this also includes opportunities to perform - and we have put on shows and fundraisers, in various locations from our HQ at Harthill Youth Centre to LUSH and Handyman's Bar (Smithdown Road, Liverpool) and many more.

Our ethos is to foster and encourage an interest in music to young people and build their confidence and help them to pursue their craft. To watch the progress of our students as they gain more excitement for their instruments and feel more empowered by music is the reason we do what we do.

This time we are hosting a 'Busk-a-thon' which will take place in and Black Cat bar, from 12-5pm on Sunday, 8 June 2025. We have invited our 'performance-ready' young people, along with a number of local musicians to perform and help raise money to sustain our project in the short-term.

Money raised will contribute towards keeping our music youth work going and will hopefully buy us more time to write bids to funding organisations. With funding we can continue to provide our service to young people, and also ensure the equipment we use is of a satisfactory condition to support our work.

I am part of a dedicated team of young musicians who derive an income from passing on our skills (and wisdom) to other young people, in a peer mentoring capacity.

We believe our approach is extremely effective in motivating young people to pursue their interest in music, and build their confidence and self-esteem along the way.

We are a professional part-time youth project making a real difference to young people's lives, many of whom face barriers to learning, be they physical, social or financial.

We very much provide a targeted service, as part of a universal offering. We are always over-subscribed and have a waiting list of young people wanting to access our provision and take part in our sessions.

Despite all of this and for a number of different reasons, we find ourselves especially low on finances, to the extent that we are very close to having to suspend our activities until we can secure sufficient funds to continue.

You can check out more about what we do by taking a look at our website at www.capeeshlpl.co.uk or, better still, our Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/capeeshlpl/

Thanks for reading and considering to make a donation to the project.

El.

£5 will pay for a 20-minute 1 to 1 music lesson, provided by a young adult musician to a young person (aged 11-17 years).

£10 will pay for two 20 minute lessons or one 40-minute music lesson.

£30 will pay for one young adult freelance music tutor/mentor to provide two hours of music tuition to individual young people and small groups also.

You can check out more about what we do by taking a look at our website at www.capeeshlpl.co.uk or our Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/capeeshlpl/

The following statements are from young people who regularly attend our sessions:

'I come to Capeesh sessions ... because it's a place where everyone shares the same passion for music. So to come here feels like belonging... like you belong here.'

'I come to Capeesh sessions … to learn and be social with everyone, to make friends, to learn on guitar.'

'I come to Capeesh sessions … it’s fun, I get to meet and make lots of new friends, it helps me to rehearse for different productions I’m in, and I love learning new things every week.'

'I come to Capeesh sessions … because I like to socialise and have fun. I like all the staff as they’re really friendly and extremely supportive. I’ve made friends and it’s so nice to learn new things every time I’m here.'

'I come to Capeesh sessions … because I want to collaborate and develop my ability to play with other musicians.

Through Capeesh I’ve been able to perform a variety of songs and improve my performance skills.'