Change Makers Blog...
Here you will find out behind the scenes info on Youth Beatz from one of our very own Change Makers!
Keep checking out this page for exclusive interview and information on this years Youth Beatz
Blog 1
3rd September 2012
Interview with Paul Chisholm, Senior Youth/Music Development Worker, Oasis Youth Centre and Production Manager of Youth Beatz
Crikey! It’s less than two weeks to go now until Youth Beatz (we know, we can’t quite believe it ourselves!). We hope that after an update from one of the event’s organisers, you’ll hopefully be a lil’ more clued up and excited about the event!
How is the mammoth job of planning the event going at Youth Beatz HQ?
In one word: hectic. Though, as we get closer and closer to the event, that’s just to be expected and at this stage, it’s just all hands on deck at HQ; everyone is getting their hands dirty and getting stuck in. It’s hectic, but not panicking… yet!
Have you got a load of preparation still to do?
Yes, but it’s not until you actually see everything written down that you begin to see just how many different elements and components there are to the event. It’s very overwhelming as there are literally about a thousand different components! We look calm now, but during the week leading up to Youth Beatz, it’ll just be straight into ‘operational mode’ as all of the planning will be done by this Friday, that’s D-Day for us! We’re even starting our site building a wee bit earlier this year to try and relieve the stress a little!
How much of a difference has having the Changemakers and volunteers made to this year’s event?
They’ve made a huge difference. This year is completely different to previous years, as it’s the first year we’ve had our Changemakers on board. They’re all very eager and are helping out with both the planning and organising beforehand and on the day things-to-do too. By expanding our team, it gives us a lot more capacity to make this year’s Youth Beatz the biggest and best ever! The different skills that all of the Changemakers and volunteers are bringing to the table are definitely enhancing the event.
After all of the organising you’ve taken to plan Youth Beatz, you must be excited to see one particular band; who is it?
Surprisingly, we don’t really get to catch many of the bands because you’re that busy running around the whole night. The most I’ll probably get to see is videos that’ll appear on Youtube the next day! Last year, I did manage to catch one song of Basshunter’s and a song by Chipmunk and it was just amazing to see the audience’s reaction; the whole crowd was bouncing. The bands I am really looking forward to seeing though, are our emerging and local musicians we have performing (The LaFontaines, Sean vs. The Robots and Aiden Halliday). Youth Beatz is such a great opportunity for them as it gives those artists a chance to showcase their music and to also gain a completely different fan base from the Youth Beatz audience.
It must be quite satisfying to see how much of a good show you’ve put on for Dumfries?
Of course. Even just seeing the videos that people are putting up online after the event and seeing the audience’s comments and reactions on Facebook really makes you feel like all the hard work we’ve put in was completely worth it. The only negative point is that the day just goes by so quickly, and not just for the audience but for us too; we’ve worked our socks off all year and it’s just gone in a flash! But I’m so enjoying seeing all of our hard work come together on site to create a great event from mere notebooks and heads full of ideas. Fingers crossed that everything will go to plan!
