Spot on! The Music Project 2006

Objective

With "SPOT-ON! THE MUSIC PROJECT", the P&V Foundation puts youth centres in the spotlight. Thanks to their open and accessible operation, they often succeed in reaching groups of young people who, for various reasons, cannot get a job elsewhere. SPOT-ON wants to encourage them, through a very concrete activity - organising a festival - to keep their very diverse audience actively involved in the youth house scene. By stimulating local partnerships between youth centres and other youth organisations in the neighbourhood, the project also offers them the opportunity to exchange their experience and know-how with other youth organisations. In this way, SPOT-ON hopes to give an implus to the accessibility of local youth work. In addition, the Foundation P&V wants to give young people the opportunity to take the initiative themselves. This gives them ample opportunity to formulate an alternative festival offer that suits their own tastes and preferences. In this way, SPOT-ON wants to promote today's youth culture, including that of the so-called 'hard-to-reach', socially vulnerable young people. 'hard-to-reach', socially vulnerable youth, to be supported and strengthened. Finally, the project aims to have a positive effect on young people's cultural participation.

Project call

The Foundation addressed a project call to the 700 youth centres in Belgium. The project offers various groups of young people, including those from disadvantaged groups, the chance to set up their own music festival. As a reward, the Foundation hands out 900 festival day trips and helps 3 youth houses to realise their own festival. The Foundation knocked on the door of the National Lottery, which is releasing EUR 180,000 for this unique project as part of its youth projects.

Winners

Thanks to "Spot-on! The Music Project 2006", three youth centres in Belgium were each able to organise their own splashing music festival in 2006: youth centre CARPE DIEM from Comines, youth centre KAVKA from Antwerp and youth centre 't ALIBI from Maasmechelen. They did this in close cooperation with other youth initiatives from the neighbourhood. The Spot-on jury rewarded their original proposals with three grand prizes of €15,000 each and a tailored coaching package. 18 other youth centres won a package of 900 free festival day trips to Pukkelpop, Dranouter Folk Festival or Dour Festival.

In total, the P&V Foundation received 45 candidate applications, involving some 100 youth clubs.

The spot-on season was opened by the second edition of the festival "J'Veux du Soleil" by Youth House Carpe Diem from Comines. Together with the Scout Group Saint-Louis de la Lys, they put together a very successful "eclectic and multicultural" festival day on 23 June, where musicians (professional and amateur) from Wallonia, France, Flanders and Brussels gave their best. The festival attracted 910 visitors, which tripled the number of visitors in 2005. Spot-on's support professionalised the volunteer team, put the festival on the regional map and helped lay the foundations for the future of "J'Veux du Soleil". Finally, the links between the youth centre and the local scouting department have been strengthened. They plan further cooperation in the future, as well as a new edition of the festival.

Contact: Marie-Aude Breyne - mjcarpediem@yahoo.fr

Between 24 and 27 August 2006, youth centre Kavka organised the fifth edition of the (international) graffiti event "Meeting of Styles", which took place at various locations in Antwerp. Thanks to Spot-on, Meeting of Styles 2006 became the largest free hip-hop festival in Belgium, uniting the 4 elements of hip-hop culture: turntablism (dj'ing), rap (mc'ing), B-boying (breakdance) and writing (graffiti). The initiative comes from several Antwerp (youth) organisations that have been active in hip-hop in the past, and who joined forces for this special edition to make it one big party. This edition has therefore created a solid collaboration between Jeugdhuis Kavka, Down 4 Kix, M.A.F., Antwerp Hip Hop Movement, Raw Material Crew, Nueava Era and Visionarea. Finally, Youth House Kavka envisages the launch of a hip-hop café, making the youth house more diverse and accessible to different groups of young people.

Contact: Jan Verstraete – jan@kavka.be - www.kavka.be

On 4 November 2006 it was the turn of the inter-youth centre festival "InFest", a brand new partnership between 5 youth organisations from Maasmechelen: youth centres 't Alibi, Underground, 't Lont and Oké and youth centre Asteroid B612. Linked to the festival was an international exchange with four young rock bands from France, Ireland, Portugal and Maasmechelen. Infest X-change meant a week of jam sessions, musical workshops, joint outings (recycling shop, youth service, drug policy Maastricht,...). The exchange ended with a festival where various styles were programmed to bridge the different target audiences of the participating youth clubs. The common theme throughout this initiative was Millennium Development Goal No. 7: ensuring a good and sustainable environment. During the festival, there was an NGO and youth work village that highlighted some social themes and especially Maasmechelen youth work. InFest attracted some 350 visitors in total! This initiative has already laid a solid foundation for better cooperation between the different youth centres in the future.

Contact: Yves Domanski - jeugdhuisalibi@hotmail.com

The following youth centres each won 50 free tickets to Dour, Dranouter or Pukkelpop. Youth House 't Biejke from Borgloon, Youth House Malmejo from Oostmalle, OJC Kompas from Sint-Niklaas, Youth House 't Hope from Bruges, Youth House Oosthoek from Dilbeek, Foyer des Jeunes from Molenbeek, Youth House de Choke from Herselt, Youth House Bouckenborgh from Merksem, Club 9 from Koersel-Beringen, Jeugdhuis 't Ipperste from Oostrozebeke, Jeugdclub 2470 from Retie, Jeugdhuis De Jeppe from Eppegem-Zemst, Jeugdhuis 't Klokhuis from Hamme, Maison des Jeunes Vitamine z from Wavre, Jeugdhuis De Jukte from Geluwe, Maison des Jeunes le Hangar from Sclayn, Bruksellive from Laken and Maison des Jeunes de Quiévrain from Quiévrain.