Support helps young musicians 'play and get paid'
Mark SavageA teenage musician inspired by Sam Fender has said a scheme to help young people into careers in the arts has given him hope and the chance "to just go out and play and get paid".
Eighteen-year-old Callum O'Neil from Durham, has benefited from the Culture Start scheme, which has helped him work towards a career in the music industry.
The Arts Council England-funded initiative gives financial support to those from disadvantaged areas to pursue careers in the arts.
O'Neil said: "It's given us a lot of performance opportunities, putting us in front of the right people".
Sunderland Culture, the charity which runs the programme, said the city and the wider North East had some of the highest child poverty rates in the UK and the programme would help "close the UK's entitlement gap around access to culture".
O'Neil, who is now in his second year of a music and performance course at Newcastle College, said the financial support had enabled him to "get paid for his art" and then reinvest the money to grow his career.
'Game changer'
Inspired by award-winning North East musician, Sam Fender, O'Neil said he gets to perform his music throughout the summer and in front of industry professionals.
"It gives us the opportunity to just go out and play and get paid for the art I'm putting on display," he said.
He said the programme had made careers in the arts "more accessible".
"It sort of gives hope to younger people. Even receiving finance for what I'm doing, it shows what I'm doing is good and I should be getting paid for it.
"It allows me to go forward and reinvest into my music."
O'Neil has released his latest single, which he said is about being 17 and transitioning from a child to an adult.
Nick Malyan, CEO of Sunderland Culture, said more than 15,000 children and young people in Sunderland had lived experience of poverty.
He said: "When heating, food, and housing are precarious then cultural activities and experiences are often seen as a luxury.
"We know however that positive cultural experiences can be game changer."
Cultural participation is proven to build life skills, foster a strong sense of identity and self-worth, and improve life chances and social mobility, he added.
