How to End Poverty & Save the Planet tru Blastbeat
2 months agoHow to End of Poverty and Save the Planet ...using Blastbeat as one of the important vehicles for this...
I have compiled the following from my own observations and articles in numerous publications and philosophies with reference and quoting liberally from the works of Jeffrey D Sachs, author of The End of Poverty and professor of The Earth Institute at Columbia University in his recent Time magazine article on the subject,ex president Bill Clinton's recent writings, from the writings of the founder of Ashoka, Bill Drayton, from the teachings of Dhamma and the Art of Living by S N Goenka amongst many personal observations and experiences working with young people across the globe.
These are all vital influences on my own philosophy and belief that we can effect change soon and well enough to save the planet and our civilizations from destruction so this is an entirely positive look at how we can do it.
I believe that the biggest threat is inaction people in positions of power and influence sticking their heads in the sand and hoping the problems will just go away of their own accord. That especially includes governments and corporations, but indeed includes people in general.
The reason that civilizations have crumbled and disappeared in the past was largely because the people concerned were not aware or would not heed warning signs and make the necessary changes to their way of living to accommodate the change that was coming.
We are now at one of the most critical moments in the history of mankind, when we must be aware of the need to change and then effect this change in a few generations.
I am firmly of the belief that the people who are going to make the changes are the youth of today and tomorrow, they are the change makers and the ones who will change things for the better.
The people of middle or old age are too set in their ways, too comfortable with the status quo. Maybe they are too near their own end to feel the need to change enough to make a difference.
Global Goals
When it comes to problem-solving on a global scale, we remain weighed down by cynicism, defeatism and outdated institutions. A world of untrammeled market forces and competing nation-states offers no automatic solutions to these challenges. The key will lie in developing new sustainable technologies and ensuring that they rapidly reach all those who need them. If the trillions of dollars that the U.S. is squandering in Iraq was instead being invested in clean energy, disease control and new, ecologically sound ways of growing food, we wouldn't be facing the cusp of a rapidly weakening dollar, soaring food and energy prices and the threats of much worse to come.
Here are four bold but achievable goals for the U.S. and the rest of the world:
1.Sustainable systems of energy, land and resource use that avert the most dangerous trends of climate change, species extinction and destruction of ecosystems
2. Stabilization of the world population at 8 billion or below by 2050, through a voluntary reduction of fertility rates, rather than the current trajectory of more than 9 billion by midcentury
3. The end of extreme poverty by 2025, and improved economic security within the rich countries as well
4. A new approach to global problem-solving based on cooperation among nations and the dynamism and creativity of the nongovernmental sector.
What will it take to attain these goals? The greatest successes in global cooperation combine four elements: a clear objective, an effective technology, a clear implementation strategy and a source of financing.
Smallpox eradication, for example, started with a clear objective (the eradication of the disease) and an effective vaccine. It built on a clear implementation strategy, in which smallpox vaccines were given for free on a mass basis, and local outbreaks were quickly isolated through careful surveillance and response. The effort was funded on a sustained basis by several donor governments, including the U.S.'s. Similarly, the Green Revolution in Asia, which lifted China and India out of chronic hunger, built on a clear objective (raising food yields), an effective technology (a combination of high-yield seeds, fertilizer and irrigation), a clear implementation strategy (mass distribution of the input package at below market cost) and large-scale funding (from the Ford and Rockefeller foundations and the U.S. government, in addition to local financing).
Other examples abound of measurable progress against once daunting challenges: the rapid, if incomplete, expansion of primary schooling and literacy around the world; the systematic control of many killer diseases, including guinea worm disease, leprosy and African river blindness; and the voluntary decline of high fertility rates through access to family planning in almost all parts of the world, with sub-Saharan Africa the last remaining region awaiting a "demographic transition."
The 21st century will overturn many of our basic assumptions about economic life and the US, Europe and Japan will have to share Power with China, Brazil, India and Russia for example. The middle east will have to find peace and energy creation and consumption will remain to be a major problem.
The challenges of sustainable development—protecting the environment, stabilizing the world's population, narrowing the gaps of rich and poor and ending extreme poverty—will render passé the very idea of competing nation-states that scramble for markets, power and resources.
The defining challenge of the 21st century will be to face the reality that humanity shares a common fate on a crowded planet. We have reached the beginning of the century with 6.6 billion people living in an interconnected global economy producing an astounding $60 trillion of output each year.
Human beings fill every ecological niche on the planet, from the icy tundra to the tropical rain forests to the deserts. In some locations, societies have outstripped the carrying capacity of the land, resulting in chronic hunger, environmental degradation and a large-scale exodus of desperate populations. We are, in short, in one another's faces as never before, crowded into an interconnected society of global trade, migration, ideas and, yes, risk of pandemic diseases, terrorism, refugee movements and conflict.
We also face a momentous choice. Continue on our current course, and the world is likely to experience growing conflicts between haves and have-nots, intensifying environmental catastrophes and downturns in living standards caused by interlocking crises of energy, water, food and violent conflict. Yet for a small annual investment of world income, undertaken cooperatively across the world, our generation can harness new technologies for clean energy, reliable food supplies, disease control and the end of extreme poverty.
That's why the idea that has the greatest potential to change the world is simply this: by overcoming cynicism, ending our misguided view of the world as an enduring struggle of "us" vs. "them" and instead seeking global solutions, we actually have the power to save the world for all, today and in the future. Whether we end up fighting one another or whether we work together to confront common threats—our fate, our common wealth, is in our hands.
To make the right choice, we must understand four earth-changing trends unprecedented in human history:
First, the spread of modern economic growth means that the world on average is rapidly getting richer in terms of incomes per person. Moreover, the gap in average income per person between the rich world, centered in the North Atlantic (that is, Europe and the U.S.), and much of the developing world, especially Asia, is narrowing fast. With well over half the world's population, fast-growing Asia will also become the center of gravity of the world economy.
Second, the world's population will continue to rise, thereby amplifying the overall growth of the global economy. Not only are we each producing more output on average, but there will be many more of us by midcentury. The scale of the world's economic production by midcentury is therefore likely to be several times that of today.
Third, our bulging population and voracious use of the earth's resources are leading to unprecedented multiple environmental crises. Never before has the magnitude of human economic activity been large enough to change fundamental natural processes at the global scale, including the climate itself. Humanity has also filled the world's ecological niches; there is no place to run.
Fourth, while many of the poor are making progress, many of the very poorest are stuck at the bottom. Nearly 10 million children die each year because their families, communities and nations are too poor to sustain them. The instability of impoverished and water-stressed countries has ignited a swath of violence across the Horn of Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. What we call violent fundamentalism should be seen for what it really is: poverty, hunger, water scarcity and despair.
We live in a time of cynicism about achieving global public goals, yet whenever we have made the effort to mobilize our powerful technologies, we have succeeded.
Measles deaths in Africa are down more than 90% in the past seven years, at a time when many people mistakenly believe that nothing can be accomplished in large parts of Africa. Polio is nearly eradicated. Food production is soaring in Ethiopia and Malawi because modern farming techniques have been brought to peasant communities. Children have filled the schools wherever school meal programs are introduced and school fees are dropped. There is no shortage of examples of how we can attain our goals, only a shortage of will and stamina so far to carry these successes to scale, and to other vital arenas.
Our generation's great environmental challenges can be met with similar resolve and technological focus. Climate change threatens our food supplies, coastlines, health and the survival of countless species. Yet powerful technological solutions are within reach. Coal-fired power plants can capture and store the carbon dioxide that they produce, rather than releasing the carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Plug-in hybrid automobiles, nearly ready for the market, have the potential to quadruple our miles per gallon. Solar energy, concentrated by rapidly improving systems of parabolic mirrors, could be deployed in Africa's great desert and dry-land regions to provide electricity for Africa and Southern Europe at a cost competitive with fossil fuels. New land-management strategies, backed by modest financial incentives, could end most of today's tropical deforestation, which now contributes around one-fifth of all global carbon emissions as well as causing a massive loss of biodiversity. And all these steps to sustainable energy, according to today's best economic and engineering evidence, can be implemented for less than 1% of annual world income.
Beyond Markets
If the solutions are so attainable, why haven't we reached them already? Part of the reason is that we are facing our problems in the wrong way. We are so convinced that the problems are intractable—or deathly expensive to solve—that paralysis reigns. Even when we are aware of what needs to be done, we are often trapped by a free-market ideology, the same kind of no-regulation policy that has led us into our current financial crisis.
On the three great challenges—environmental sustainability, a stable world population and the end of extreme poverty—market forces will not be enough. The world's producers and consumers currently regard the air as a free dumping ground for carbon dioxide and other climate-changing greenhouse gases. We need to correct market forces—for example, by taxing carbon emissions that are offset by tax reductions elsewhere—in order to create the right incentives. We need to expand greatly our public investments in early-stage clean technologies, such as improved solar-thermal power and carbon capture and sequestration, just as the National Institutes of Health uses public funding to support medical breakthroughs.
Similarly, population stabilization in poor countries requires a determined public investment—in girls' education, health services and child survival—to promote a rapid and voluntary reduction in birth rates. And we should first help the poorest of the poor to get above survival levels of income before we can expect market forces to lift them further, to market-driven prosperity.
None of this is expensive, but none of it can happen by itself. Indeed, it is the low cost of success that is perhaps the most remarkable feature of all. Consider malaria, the great African killer disease. Three hundred million antimalaria bed nets are needed to protect impoverished Africans from the disease. Each net costs $5 and lasts five years, for a total cost of $1.5 billion over five years. Yet that is less than one day's Pentagon spending! Add in the costs of medicines and ongoing delivery services, and we find that comprehensive malaria control would cost less than two days' Pentagon spending each year. Sustainable development will not break the bank. The key is, rather, to make the right choices in our public investments and to find ways to harness, and channel, market forces.
The Power of One
Great social transformations—the end of slavery, the women's and civil rights movements, the end of colonial rule, the birth of environmentalism—all began with public awareness and engagement. Our political leaders followed rather than led. It was scientists, engineers, church-goers and young people who truly led the way. If as citizens we vote for war, then war it will be. If instead we support a global commitment to sustainable development, then our leaders will follow, and we will find a way to peace.
Each of us has a role to play and a chance for leadership. First, study the problems—in school, in reading, on the Web.
Second, when possible, travel. There is no substitute for seeing extreme poverty, or deforestation, or the destructive forces of nature in New Orleans, to understand our generation's real challenges. There is no substitute for meeting and engaging with people across cultures, religions and regions to realize that we are all in this together.
Third, get your business, community, church or student group active in some aspect of sustainable development. Americans are promoting the control of malaria, the spread of solar power, the end of polio and the reversal of treatable blindness, to name just a few of today's inspiring examples of private leadership.
Finally, demand that our politicians honor our nation's global promises and commitments on climate change and the fight against hunger and poverty. If the public leads, politicians will surely follow.
Our generation's greatest challenges—in environment, demography, poverty and global politics—are also our most exciting opportunity. Ours is the generation that can end extreme poverty, turn the tide against climate change and head off a massive, thoughtless and irreversible extinction of other species.
Ours is the generation that can, and must, solve the unresolved conundrum of combining economic well-being with environmental sustainability. We will need science, technology and professionalism, but most of all we will need to subdue our fears and cynicism.
John F.Kennedy reminded us that peace will come by recognizing our common wealth. "If we can not end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal."
(Jeffrey Sacs)
The worlds population will only stabilize at a sustainable level when we have eliminated poverty and created and share sufficient wealth that stops the global population explosion. Developed nations have a much lower birth rate than poor nations and there is an economic and educational reason for that. Improve the education and the poverty levels go down and then the birth rates diminish.
SO who are the people who are going to understand all this and be the change makers?
Well it is the young people who are doing Blastbeat for one as we will through this program be sharing the knowledge and these philosophies and values.
By showing young people that they can achieve and make a difference then we believe that this will help them become changemakers who can effect the necessary change.
By empowering and linking all if these young people, then we have the potential best vehicle for starting and growing a global youth movement that will make change a reality over the next 20 years.
Blastbeat has the potential to do all of this - as it gives the youth the tools and critical experience they need at a time when they need it that will make them the social entrepreneurs and change makers that they can become.
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Why is Blastspace live necessary?
11 months agoThere are many impediments to staging events for teenagers in Ireland. There is equally a dearth of places for young people to express themselves artistically and socially. Thus a great need by artists/bands and young people for an organisation like Blastspace live.
There is also great lack and need for better entertainment and educational alternatives for teenagers than currently exist.
Blastspace live is the only organization taking up the challenge to arrange live music events for teenagers nationwide.
The Difficulties of staging All ages/ live music events for teenagers.
Blastspace live constantly has to deal with the problems and prejudices attaching to the staging of live rock music events for young people. In fact it is one of the main reasons that an organisation like Blastspace live needs to exist, as the running of these events is generally not a profitable operation so most people are not bothered to organise them.
It is very difficult to get venues that are willing to stage teenage alcohol free events for monetary and prejudicial reasons. Venues depend largely on alcohol sales for the better part of their income from live music events. But with the Blastspace live gigs they don’t make money selling alcohol thus they want to charge large rents.
For example, The Temple Bar Music Centre in Dublin can be rented for 400 to 500 euro for an evening event. However- they require that Blastspace live would pay a guarantee of 3,000 euro for the use of the venue etc on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon when nothing else would be happening there. This makes it too risky and to expensive for Blastspace live events to be staged there.
Most venues in Ireland are licensed pubs and thus they don’t like having teenagers in their establishments due to the licensing laws and their fear of undue attention that having many youths in and around the premises would attract from the Garda.
There is also the fear of the potential insurance claims that the venues site as a reason for their reluctance to stage events for teenagers. Thus all age’s alcohol free events are difficult and expensive to arrange compared to standard gigs.
Blastspace live provides good alternatives to sporting activities for Teenagers.
The majority of teenagers in Ireland do NOT participate in team sports, thus Blastspace live is necessary among other reasons as there is a dire lack of facilities for teenagers in Ireland outside of organized sporting events.
Recent reports have indicated that only 27% of teenagers are actively and regularly involved in organised sports. ‘Blast’ offers a teenager with less conforming lifestyles an alternative that they can really value and make their own,
Blastspace live offers a good healthy alternative that has a good pedagogy while being attractive to these teenagers. Blastspace live also aims through its activities to help combat substance / drink abuse by teenagers by offering them better alternatives and creating community where it is not cool to be under “the influence”.
As a developed nation with a rich musical heritage we are failing miserably to provide better alternatives to the pub culture for teenagers, especially for those that are not engaged in organized sports etc. Providing better alternatives, education and community building are at the core of the ‘Blast’ philosophy.
There is a particular need for an outreach capacity at our
gigs and on our social network and for the training of young councillors and
outreach volunteers.
There is a huge problem for teenagers in this and most other countries -
Irish Government Research ( March06 )stated that..
"Lack of facilities and money are the main barriers towards teenagers
getting involved in recreational activities" and this lack has serious
consequences..
There is a clear and critical need to provide for the youth of today in a
manner that will educate, enlighten, and allow them to realize their fullest
potential in life and help many of those youths to avoid becoming mentally
ill and outreaching to those at risk at the first signs of problems..
I believe that increasing youth isolation and lack of social skills and
opportunities are a part of the growing problem of depression and lack of
self esteem and social skills that is plaguing our youth.
I also believe that substance abuse is a major factor in suicide attempts
which is goring to epidemic proportions amongst teens in this country - now
he number one cause of death by young people.
As much evidence shows, Irish youth are currently among the highest alcohol
and drug abusers in Europe. Along with the associated behavioural problems
that this brings it is clear that very little is being done to counteract
the root causes of that problem. It is accepted now that much more
investment in education and outreach to at risk kids is required if our
young people are to be healthy and prosper.
However it is all just talk and very little action.You are one of the very
few to actually do something about it- fantastic and well done to you. It is
so badly needed, I want to work with headstrong where ever it makes sense
for us to be associated.
I recognised the issues over 8 years ago,so I decided to start working
towards providing the youth of Ireland with better alternatives and
opportunities towards creating community and self help achievable goals.
I chose to work through Music and the Music Industry, as that what I LOVE &
know and it is also the UNIVERSAL language that MOST KIDS ARE INTO.
Historically I have been at the forefront of helping young Irish bands get
their essential first gigs and start for over 25 years now *(*see below).
This has been a long and somewhat difficult journey, especially as there is
so little money at this stat up end of the music ³business². My work has
been more like vocational or social entrepreneur work for teenagers and
their social needs generally!.
About eight years ago I founded an loose NFP organisation called ³Blast² to
help young bands and young people develop their potential. ³Blast² has been
organising events for teenagers in alcohol / drug free environments
nationally ever since.
I renamed the organisation "Blastspace" last year to bring it up to date and
to include the online and offline activities into one "space" for teens and
launched our own social or creative network.www.blastspace.com
Durin g the last 8 to 9 years through ³Blastspace² the teenagers and I and a
few young adults have organised over 650 alcohol / drug free live music
events for teenagers, putting on stage over 3,900 young bands to audiences
of over 180,000 teenagers in four continents!!.
Blastspace has created a wonderful young community nationwide and now
internationally with over 15,000 current active members.
Blastspace helps keep young people creatively and communally and socially
engaged away from alcohol and drugs and out of trouble in a safe environment
at least for the time they spend with us.
We give teens a real reason to be creative and engaged. Blastspace is
providing better alternatives for teenagers than hanging around the streets
in at risk environments, where they are more likely to be exposed violence
and a drink drug culture.
Blastspace is helping to encourage teenagers personal, creative, business
and social development, while building a vibrant community and good Social
Capital for and with the kids.
We have also developed a business game based on the Mini Company / music
industry structures called Blastbeat, which is running successfully with
Transition Year students in schools all over Ireland. Blastbeat is also now
in New York, Las Angles, Brussels and Cape Town. See www.blastbeat.org and
check out particularly the video section that speaks volumes.
(See also the attached information on our social entrepreneur programme &
view www.2winaid.com and www.mylife.org.za)
The Blastspace organisation has done fantastic work and achieved a lot over
the last eight years to provide music related projects and events for
teenagers.
It has however been a continuous, lonely and difficult struggle though
throughout the last eight years. It has been a real challenge to find money
and to keep venues that are willing to stage all age¹s alcohol free events
at a price that is viable.
What's really needed now is some assured funding over the next there years
so we can become self funding and get things going on a much bigger scale
which will as a result drive and generate corporate and community financing
for the organisation.
We also need some good professional help with some of the kids that we come
across who are in need of psychological help, or even just some young person
to talk to who is trained and can spot the ones at risk or in need and reach
out to them.
We need Councillors, Mentors and youth volunteers.
It also is much harder to get a gig in Dublin or elsewhere now than it was
at the time of U2¹s formative years, when at least you had the Dandelion
market, McGonagall¹s, The Airport Hotel and many pubs and clubs that were
easier on teenagers being on the premises and open to live music for kids.
Now if you are under the age of 18 and a musician in a band it is very hard
to get a gig or get entry to a gig, as there is so much paranoia and
prejudice levelled at young (under age 18) bands and audiences, especially
with the fear of under age drinking and anti social behaviour.
If it weren¹t for Blastspace there would be nothing happening in this area
for most of the kids who are into live music, we are the only National and
International organisation going to the trouble of staging such events.
Depression and anxiety, family problems and problems with peers were the
dominant themes in Ireland for young people seeing guidance counsellors,
according to a short survey conducted by your own organisation Headstrong
recently.
The survey conducted amongst attendees of the recent conference for Guidance
Counsellors in Killarney was asked the question ³Can you outline the main
social, emotional and behavioural problems you encounter as a guidance
counsellor?²
To quote from the 64 guidance counsellors responded to this question. The
main response themes were:
€ Mental Health € Family Problems € Peer Problems € Substance Abuse €
Externalizing Behaviours € Personal/Practical Problems € Physical Abuse €
Community/Societal Problems & Deficits Within the theme of ŒMental Health¹,
depression was a concern mentioned by most of the guidance counsellors
(17%). This was followed by concern around the area of low self-esteem or
self-worth and hopelessness (12%). Suicidal ideation or tendencies were also
a worrying concern (10%) along with deliberate self-harm (7%). Anger and
angry behaviour was another prominent factor (8%) reported by young people.
The theme of ŒFamily Problems¹ yielded a great degree of issues around young
people experiencing distress as a result of divorce or separation (15%), and
in general a dysfunctional background (7%) which could include issues such
as separation, lack of family support, domestic violence, or experience of
addiction within the family. Neglect was also cited by some guidance
counsellors as problem that is presented to them by young people (4%).
Peer Problems¹ included the information that young people are presenting to
guidance counsellors with a substantial degree of problems around bullying
(11%), closely followed by loneliness, isolation, and social exclusion (8%).
Blastspace reaches out these kids - but we are experiencing financial
difficulties as we cannot charge too much for the events as many kids cannot
afford to pay any more than they do ( 10 euros average entry ) and we do not
want Blastspace to become just for kids with money....we want to be able to
outreach to the kids with no money too..
The venue owners reluctance creates a sellers market, those that are willing
to stage all ages events are increasing the prices for rental so much that
they are killing our ability to make the events and the organisation viable
without more sponsors or cash subsidy from somewhere.
To give you some examples of our costs spiral- The Temple Bar Music Centre
in Dublin will not stage a Blastspace event for less than 3,000 euro on a
Saturday afternoon when nothing else is happening. !!
That price is up from 300 euro when we started gigs there some years ago.
The Voodoo Lounge on the quays now wants 1,500 euro rent up from a start
price of 500 euro a few years ago.
Radio City wants 1,400 euro all in up from 650.
The Half Moon in Cork has doubled their fees in the last few years to 750
euro.
This is ALL because these venues say that it is not worth their while doing
all ages alcohol free (Blastspace) events for any less, as they make no
money from alcohol sales.!! This I can understand to some degree so the long
term solution is to have dedicated venues for teenagers or subsidies fro the
rental of god venues and or a self financing model.
I have now developed that but it will take three years to break even and
then start to make a profit. Blastspace is unfortunately very cash starved.
So ³Blastspace² needs help to continue and best achieve its goals both
locally and Internationally !
We have not got any financial support from any government body,not even the
Arts Council who are useless for youth art in music they just don't get it.
We currently exist from hand to mouth on Corporate Sponsorship monies that
are always short term and hard to come by and more recently through the
social entrepreneur award that I got 100% of which went into the company.
We have been very resourceful and have managed to raise substantial sums
from companies like Coca Cola and Vodafone etc.(over 500k in the last two
years), but we have no guarantees yet going forward.
The finances of the organisation are a victim of our own relative success,
as we are organising so many events etc is expensive and the
short-sightedness and even greed and disregard for teens of certain venue
owners and the public is very frustrating.
The costs of running the Blastspace organization are increasing.
Nowadays Blastspace events generally run at a real loss, despite securing
some sponsorship, so we need fresh cash support every year to continue.
So we need help to achieve more Sponsorship, Grant aid or Patronage or else
we will just have to stop and our good work will cease and the kids, the
country and entertainments industry etc will all be the poorer for that.
I have been personally subsidising the Blastspace organisation to date- and
working without pay for many years to build this into a national and
International organisation, which it now is.
I cannot continue to support the organisation financially any more as I
don¹t have the resources anymore.
I have gathered and trained a young and enthusiastic team from around the
country to run Blastbeat Ltd. Blastspace is also about empowering young
people to take charge and responsibility of their own destinies.
Blastspace would welcome any mentoring or help that you might be able to
offer either on a personal level. Maybe you could help to get other people
involved as Sponsors, as Patrons or as Mentors and Councillors.?
Maybe you would be prepared to use your extensive contacts to help raise
some finance and or facilities.?
Maybe long term you would consider helping to get a permanent home for
Blastspace type events in a City Centre Space or finding and establishing a
Youth Centre/Venue urban centres?). Dublin in particular needs a youth
centre in its Centre- the kids have nowhere to go, so they hang around the
Central Bank which is not very safe.
As you know well our youth are our future, but what will happen to them if
we, as a society, do not provide better supports and alternatives to create
community to help teenagers avoid the pitfalls of Alcohol/ Drug abuse and
mental illness. This is one of the biggest problems that our society and
country faces today and you are one of the few who is doing something real
to help to tackle part of this problem.
I am attaching a full description as to what we do and what the philosophy
of the Blastspace organisation is etc. I really hope that you can see your
way to helping Blastspace to continue its work and I thank you in advance
for your attention to this.
I look forward to meeting with you and talking more about this. There are
many fantastic young willing and able people who run the Blastspace
organisation locally and they all need some help and maybe you are capable
of providing some badly needed support and resources.
The schools BlastBeat programme has taken this philosophy one step further
by empowering students through education and by them in turn becoming social
entrepreneurs. Blastbeat/space has created a huge amount of social capital
by fostering creative talent and encouraging youth expression via social
entrepreneurship.
The BlastBeat/space programme is unique in that it is giving students the
tools to become the social entrepreneurs of the future by providing a
support network of professionals in the music and business world allowing
students to replicate the business model while being educated.
The Blastspace live Mission Statement.
1 year agoUpdated 2007-01-04 17:13:30
Updated 2007-01-04 17:08:49
Our mission is to provide a framework for youth community building, social capital and learning whereby young people can, through their own decisions and actions, learn the basics of good social interaction, teamwork and creative and business acumen. They can achieve this through working on projects based around organising and staging of live Music events called “Blastspace live” in their own town / city/ region in an alcohol/ drug free safe yet cool environments.
Blastspace live organizes and empowers young people in cities and towns countrywide to organize events for themselves and their members. The “Blastspace” live music events are usually staged on weekends or during school holidays or a bank holiday in the afternoon or early evening.
This gives young people and bands have an opportunity to perform live (at no cost to them) at a professionally organized music event in front of an audience of their peers.
Blastspace live is about young people having FUN and is “for teenagers by teenagers”. Blastspace live members are actively involved in every aspect of the organisation. This ranges form being actually involved running and promoting the organisation and events to, playing and participating in everything that goes on.
Blastspace live is fairly unique in what it is doing for young people and in how successfully it has operated to date.
Blastspace live has achieved more than any other music centric collective youth organisation in Ireland. During the last 6 years Blastspace live has organised and staged over 400 live music events with over 2,000 bands performing to over 100,000 teenagers.
There is a zero tolerance policy toward alcohol at Blastspace live events.
Blastspace live intends to continue to develop and maintain the best possible relationships with the Garda and health and safety authorities, the public and business community generally. These bodies generally appreciate what Blastspace live and its philosophy is doing to help young people and develop social capital and community spirit.
The Blastspace live organization involves students from age 13 to 18 and facilitates their involvement in every aspect of the music business. This includes event creation and artist selection and staging, event promotion and production, to recording, producing, marketing, and selling their own selection of CD’s of young bands music that they select.
Blastspace live has also developed a music centered initiative in schools www.blastbeat.org to allows young people the possibility to put into practice essential creative, business and ethical skills. They learn at first hand how the music industry works. This is all centered on young peoples universal interest in music and their need for a good compelling model to learn through.
Members who are involved in the management of Blastspace live have full freedom to make all their own decisions regarding the setting up and running of Blastspace live in their own regional under guidance and with the support of more experienced adults affiliated to the Central Blastspace live organisation.
Part of the Blastspace live strategy is to provide
A drug free, cool environments for young people to interact in, where they can be creative, engaged and socialize in a community that enjoys Live music staged in a good safe venue that is acceptable to them, (i.e. not some dank or unsuitable parish hall or school gymnasium)
A full compliment of professional personnel and equipment is supplied to our community of young performers to ensure they have the best environment to perform in and that there is little or no financial or health risk to them.
Blastspace live gives emerging artist good reason to go to the trouble and effort of practicing, song writing, preparing for gigs etc
Blastspace live organizes and empowers young people in cities and towns countrywide to organize events for them and their peer communities. These events and performances are also ideal places for the artists to perfect and showcase their works to the Music industry.
Finances.
The Blastspace live organisation and events need subsidy, as the quality of the events means that the costs of production and organisation are considerable. Blastspace live tries to keep the entry fee as low as possible to enable the events to be accessible to any young person whatever their financial capacity or social background. The events themselves in Derry, Dublin and Cork are generally self financing but events in the smaller town and cities are loss making as the audiences are smaller.
In an effort to help finance the Blastspace live events the organisation requires new sponsors or patrons and new revenue streams to enable it to continue. We welcome any approaches by interested patrons or sponsors, please email robert@blastbeat.org