Defcon History

Defcon are currently delivering workshops for Roundhouse, The Princes Trust, Schools, Youth Clubs and Government bodies. Catch our column in 5mag.co, Movement.

Please see testimonials.

Defcon Workshops began in 2004 at the Young People’s Development Programme (YPDP) on the White City Estate – London.

At this time the YPDP was a pilot scheme designed to work with children excluded from mainstream education, with the aim of reintergrating them. Defcon workshops undertook a series of sessions with the young people attending the centre and achieved outstanding results.

On completion of the first workshop, the feedback from both students and teachers at the Y.P.D.P was phenomenal. The results highlighted that a project like this is a perfect way to provide an outlet of expression for a young person, proven to build self-esteem and confidence irrespective of the participant’s background.

Over the last 7 years the music project has been taken mainly throughout London and the South East but has also had succesful runs in Birmingham and North Devon and expanded to offer Graffiti,Art, Drums, Dance and basically anything that young people feel inspired or choose to engage with.

Defcon ran  ‘Future Youth’ Workshops for 3 years with the Princes Trust receiving sponsorship from Redbull, Sony Bmg and Arts and Business. These workshops  visited areas such as Devon,  Sussex and Kent, allowing young people to access music technology, speak to tutors and visit a studio in London to record their final composition. For some this was the first time they had left their areas.  These compositions were compiled on to CD’s and distributed amongst the young people.

In the summer of 2005 and again in 2007 – Defcon Workhops, working with ‘The Arts Bus’ and Kent County Council – undertook a tour, visiting almost 30 different areas in the Kent county. This Project was unique as it meant we could take the Defcon experience to young people in hard-to-reach rural areas.

By giving young people a platform to express themselves we are able to proactively communicate with and empower the artistic and musical youth, we pride ourselves in targeting those who wouldn’t normally have access to the resources and first-hand experience we possess and engage young people in learning new skill sets,developing growth, self-esteem and knowledge.