SCSN are currently working in Partnership with North Lanarkshire Arts, Tron Theatre, Youth Theatre Arts and the University of Edinburgh on a research knowledge exchange which is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The project aims to put arts at the heart of multi-sectoral strategic planning in North Lanarkshire and cut across sectors to address key issues and inequalities.

As part of this work, Josh from SCSN is delivering ‘musicBox’, a series of 2-hour workshops working with community members in North Lanarkshire. The purpose of musicBox is to develop people’s skills in music production, field recording and podcasting as well as using music and sound to explore people’s different experiences and perceptions of community safety in North Lanarkshire.

Each participant will have access to their own ‘Music Box’ which includes a field microphone, headphones, and other digital recording equipment.

musicBox will enable participants to pursue unique and individual lines of inquiry around the topic of ‘safety’ where, in-between sessions, each participant will engage in a field recording exercise, and the audio gathered will be used, edited and sampled in the next session. The audio recordings will include ambience, samples, music and interviews. By the end of the 4-week course, each participant will have produced a ‘sonic booklet’ comprised of recordings that includes elements of all the work that participants have completed.

Creative output from the musicBox sessions will feed in to the North Lanarkshire Arts Strategy so as future arts provision can be designed and delivered with people experiences and perceptions of safety in mind to ensure equal and equitable access for all. musicBox will also showcase how creative approaches to community engagement can be used successfully within the field of community safety, and set the scene for more projects like this in the future.