ETC supports new creative space for Taree youth

Young aspiring creative artists in the Taree area won’t need to travel to a major city to access support to develop their skills. Thanks to a $30,000 grant from the ETC Community Support Fund, Taree PCYC has been able to transform their club facilities to include a creative hub specifically for local youth.

“We already had some renovations happening at the club, so during this time were able to work with ETC to create this space,” said Justin Hayes the PCYC Taree Club Manager.

“We’ll be able to run a range of different creative based workshops from music, singing, filming, film editing, photography, art and more.”

According to Mr Hayes there wasn’t an easily accessible space in the Taree area for local youth to be creative.

“Most of the programs here at the PCYC are sport based, which is great as it keeps kids active. But we realised there was a need for young people who had an interest in the Arts to be able to have a space to express themselves and be creative,” he said.

“We’re so grateful for the ETC grant which contributed towards the room fit-out. So things like flooring, mirrors on the walls, and also allowed us to buy the equipment like computers for video editing, cameras for photography, and a range of other items.”

Musician and Workshop Facilitator Jake Davey was thrilled to be involved in the development of the creative space and encouraged local youth to check it out.

“Growing up I never really had these opportunities, in my early teens I’d have to go to Newcastle and Sydney to experience anything like this. So for the PCYC to now be hosting this kind of thing, it’s pretty incredible. The space is awesome. To see the kids come along and have a blast and be passionate about it – it’s an absolute pleasure to be here,” he said.

Local youth and musician Daniel Brewer has been playing guitar for over seven years and says this new initiative will help him with his future goals of writing and producing songs.

“It has been great to collaborate with other musicians and to learn from different styles. Jake the Workshops Facilitator has been helping us out with some tips and tricks on how to grow your performance and production and really draw out your passion in music,” Daniel said.

Another youth musician Ezekial Phillips was full of praise for the new creative hub.

“I’ve learnt about the loop station and how to set the gear up properly without hurting your ears. This space at the PCYC has really good acoustics,” he said.

“I’d actually like to start recoding my own songs and release them on Spotify or SoundCloud and hopefully get noticed.”

ETC Board Chairman Rod McKelvey, said it was a pleasure to be able to support the Taree PCYC with $30,000 towards their Creative Space project for Taree youth.

“The ETC Community Support Fund is designed to help organisations reduce disadvantage, generate opportunity, increase support services and/or build capacity in the communities in which we operate,” Mr McKelvey said.

“Since 2012 we have given back $1 million to local communities through the ETC Community Support Fund. We are proud to be a not-for-profit company.”

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