Malaki Patterson is the creative director of music works.
I felt that Malaki really strengthened what Simon had been saying in the weeks prior, so having this guest speaker in cemented what music in the community really was.
Malaki told us how he started as workshop leader and has recently progressed to become the creative director of music works. His job is to gather ideas and come up with fresh new workshops.
Throughout the workshop i intended on taking notes to remember all that he said but i got that engrossed and engaged with what he was saying i literally wrote his name down, that was it! This was a good thing as quite often i become disengaged but he was constantly involving us and the subject also inspired a new thought on this being a career path for me.
One thing that resonated with me was the story about working with youth who were from a corrections unit and he made us aware how important it was to be on the same page with the leaders at the facility in this case. There was miscommunication which ended with someone having a knife, this was all down to the leaders and the people from the facility not following the same rules and the leaders not being aware of it.
He went on to telling us how the workshop NEEDS to be class specific. When planning a workshop you need to take into consideration anything that comes with the territory of that certain group of people. He explained that the time of the workshop is something to take into consideration. He told us that one of his workshops for youth he designed the workshop so that it would suit them; He made sure he had afternoon sessions as teenagers have this stereotype of not wanting to get up in the morning. Catering for little things like this changes a lot, this meant more people would come and it would fit round their lifestyle already set in place.
Also Malaki touched on the use of trial and error, that there can always be things that need to be changed for next time while you are running a work shop. Nothing is going to be perfect the first time you do it, so just give it a try, if something doesn’t work, change it for next time. Simple.
It was also mentioned that you need to be careful with one on one moments at any point; Always make sure that there is someone else present as this avoids any problems in the future. There was a story told about a young girl who was in a bad place and falsely accused a leader of inappropriate relations, because he was in a one to one situation there was no one there to back him up. Thinking about situations like this is crucial as one small hiccup can ruin a career.
Malaki also highlighted a story about a young lad whom he helped in one of his hospital education workshops and now he employs him to work at one of the music work trusted studios. This young boy suffered from a number of things, one of them being anxiety, through this workshop he found confidence and ‘a route back into education’. His story is publicised on their website…
He now works at the studio 340 helping out Malaki.
The website shares more information about safety and the different policies the music works stand by. Parent are able to access these through their website settling their mind over anything that could possibly go wrong, and that the leaders have been trained for this. Each job role within Music works holds a policy responsibility too. In regards to safety, they carry out a risk assessment before going ahead with any workshop. They also fill out a checklist…
Gloucester, Cheltenham and Cindeford are the there places that the music works bases around. With studios and spaces in each other these locations.
Rosie Louise Mountjoy 
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