We Make Culture

We Make Culture CIC is a social enterprise based in Sunderland, which delivers high-quality, embedded music-making programmes across the city. Our mission is to bring people together through music-making and creativity, supporting the development of creative confidence and increasing people’s capacity to fulfil their potential and be heard. Young Musicians Project is at the core of WMCs work. Through Young Musicians project we work with 60 young people (13-19), offering participants unique opportunities to write, perform and record. We also continue to work with our alumni through the “Next Steps” programme, which supports emerging artists in the region to develop careers as musicians and in the wider creative industries. Alongside the growth of YMP, WMC has developed impactful, long-term, community-led music-making projects for children, young people and families with local partner organisations, such as More than Grandparents (who support kinship care families), Wearside Women in Need (who support families who have experienced domestic violence) and Back on the Map (a community organisation based in Hendon). These projects utilise music-making to increase wellbeing, confidence, and efficacy, particularly aimed at communities who have experienced multiple disadvantages, supporting them to tell their stories and shape the work they do. As with YMP, our approach is to enrich & empower communities by connecting them with exceptional musicians & integrating their work into Sunderland's vibrant cultural community.