The young people from the Picket Dry Bar project have created their own website to publicise and promote the continuing activities and developments.

See http://www.thedrybar.org

A photo-archive from Liverpool Now High and Dry can be seen athttp://thedrybar.myphotoalbum.com/

The following is from the Merseyside ACME final evaluation report on the Drybar

The Dry Bar, a series of under-18 gigs held at The Picket, was one of the earliest projects to be established as part of MZONE. It has consistently exceeded its targets and is an outstanding model of good practice, which could be replicated in other zones nationally. The original aim for the Dry Bar was to

'address the exclusion felt by young people across Merseyside from the experience of live rock…. Under 18s will experience and perform in live music gigs and be offered opportunities to explore, through workshops and use of The Picket's professional support and facilities, involvement in the music industry'.

The project has shown that, when opportunities to perform in a credible context (i.e. one which is seen as professional) are offered, demand from performers and listeners is extremely high - most events have been full, with latecomers queuing to get in. The success of the project owes much to The Picket involving local agencies, including youth services. They have ensured that health and safety and security issues are seen as a priority - a commitment not shared by other local venues who have attempted, unsuccessfully, to mimic the success of the Dry Bar, without making the required allocation of resources.
The growth in demand has meant that in addition to the subsidised monthly events, young entrepreneurs have stepped forward to organise, with support from Picket staff, additional monthly events, which are required to break-even. The further success of these, the way in which bands use the events to sell merchandise, and volunteers assist in compering, lighting and mixing, all demonstrate outstanding examples of the kind of 'enterprise education' opportunities for young people which schools are struggling to provide.

A week long series of workshops took place in August which covered guitar technology, drum technology, music business and sound technology, which the sound technician from the Coral led. Then on the 27th August the Dry Bar staged a Summer Festival for U18s at Rice Lane City Farm in Walton. 28 acts performed throughout the day. The event was well attended by people of all ages from the local area and the young people were enjoying the experience. However, the organisers were disappointed that there were not more of the Dry Bar's regulars there.

The project recognises the challenges, which arise out of the territorialism of young people's music genres. The predominant ranges of performers have been male and rock-oriented, but steps have been taken to include more pop, urban and female acts.

While it remains to be seen whether the integration of those musical styles in one evening will achieve the aim of attracting mixed audiences across differing backgrounds, staff are to be congratulated for attempting to tackle the social, musical (and sometimes racial) divides with which young musical tastes are frequently identified.

The impact of the project appears to have been significant - both within the region's young musicians and within the Picket. In interviews staff have confirmed that the growth of interest (both from bands wishing to appear and audiences figures) has taken them by surprise. One of the effects of this unexpected demand was to refocus the Liverpool Now festival much more toward under-18s.

The Picket reported that 750 musicians were involved in the Dry Bar and that the total audience figure was 6,000.

It is particularly disappointing therefore, that given the success of the Dry Bar initiative, there appears to have been little, if any, connection with other MZONE projects. There would appear to be obvious links to workshop-based projects in providing a performance outlet, or enabling reluctant performers to acquire further confidence through tuition. Interviews revealed that meetings between project managers across the zone had virtually stopped after an initial consistency of meetings.

We would recommend that much closer co-operation and sharing of practice would help consolidate not just the Dry Bar initiative, but other MZONE projects.

ISSUES

• The project underlines the importance of 'relevance' in some forms of youth music-making. The relationship between participation and peer approval is often overlooked in participatory projects.
• Venues usually identified as 'adult' can accommodate young people's activities without a detrimental affect on other events/audiences, provided there is sufficient staff support and a genuine desire to respond to young people's needs.
• Young people are encouraged to take ownership of spin-off events, within a supportive and responsive structure - decisions are not made through formal committees.
• The project provides a model suitable for replication, which could lead to regional and national venue networks.
• The project has succeeded in attracting an increasing number of bands wishing to play at the venue and a growing audience. MZONE needs to take care with its monitoring figures in differentiating between audience development figures and figures for participation in music-making activities so that it is clear how many young people are actually involved in music making through the project.

The Picket - Liverpool Now High and Dry.

Liverpool Now High and Dry was a four-day event, which grew out of the Dry Bar project. Due to the success of the Dry Bar events at The Picket, it was decided (with the agreement of funders) to revamp the annual Liverpool Now festival so that it was focused on under 18s musicians and audiences. Previously the Liverpool Now festival, managed by The Picket, had been an annual showcase for the best of current adult Liverpool music.

The event consisted of practical workshops, music industry seminars, and Dry Bar gigs. It was a joint event between The Picket/Dry Bar and MZONE, with activity taking place in LIPA, and The Magnet (a local bar/club) as well as The Picket. Despite some organisational problems, the event should be viewed as a real success. Large numbers of young people got involved - many of these had previously been involved in the Dry Bar, but other young people came for the first time. An impressive number of local and national music industry figures attended, and young people benefited from the opportunity to have access to them. The event had a 'buzz' about it and the young people definitely felt themselves to be part of an exciting event. The showcase gigs attracted good audiences throughout the week. According to the Picket over 500 young people were involved.

ISSUES

There were a number of organisational issues. Seminars and many of the sessions and workshops started late. The rooms were sometimes not ideal, panels were often too large and the development of discussion pitched at an inappropriately high level.

Youth Music, Liverpool City Council/Liverpool Culture Company and various other organisations fund
THE DRY BAR