A GROUP dedicated to helping young people gain personal and social skills through the arts has received a £19,257 grant for a pioneering project.

The Wiltshire Youth Arts Partnership has been awarded the money, by the National Foundation of Youth Music, for a music technology project targeting young people aged 13-21 who are at risk and not participating in music activity.

The one-year project will be run in partnership with the Wiltshire Music Centre and St Laurence School, Bradford on Avon - focusing on intensive holiday courses at the centre, taster workshops and outreach sessions.

Young people will be able to develop skills in DJ-ing and music technology, creating new tracks and lyrics to be burned on to CDs.

Those taking part will be recruited through taster sessions in youth development centres.

There will also be the opportunity for school-leavers or college students to work alongside the music leaders, gaining further training in technology

Three courses will take place at the Wiltshire Music Centre during half-term and other school holidays, using St Laurence's music technology workstations.

Outreach sessions with groups across the county will also enable young people who are unable to attend the music centre to take part and find out more about music technology.

And as technology and DJ-ing can often be dominated by men, there will be specific sessions for girls.

Wiltshire Youth Arts co-ordinator Angela Stribling told the Journal: "This exciting award will bring new music technology workshops for young people all over Wiltshire.

"This pioneering project will also be a springboard for an exciting traineeeship opportunity for young people aged 16-21 - facilitating a fantastic opportunity for our community."

Wiltshire Youth Arts is a partnership between Wiltshire county council's youth service, Salisbury, Kennet, West Wiltshire and North Wiltshire district councils and the Arts Council.

The music centre opened in 1998 to national acclaim, following a bold and imaginative vision plan that secured an Arts Council lottery grant.

The centre is unique - a contemporary building with nine flexible workshop and meeting spaces, around a first-class 300-seat concert hall, with a superb acoustics.

It has conference facilities, a recording studio, a cinema screen, a bar and good access for the disabled.

An innovative programme of education and community projects runs alongside a busy series of high-profile public concerts.

This all takes place on the campus of St Laurence School, which is in a residential area on the edge of Bradford on Avon.