Shine Steel Band, Dartmouth

Aim

Shine Steel Band offers an exciting new musical activity that everyone within the local area of Dartmouth can join, embrace and enjoy!

Who are we?

Shine Steel Band is a vibrant new start-up community project in South Devon, open to everyone aged between 10 years and upwards with a desire to become involved in music making. We provide expert tuition in tuned steel pan percussion. Our players gain experience in creative, cultural music making and performing. 

Shine is fun, friendly and hugely rewarding. As a new start-up community project we are right at the beginning of our exciting musical journey.  On 28th March 2023 we held our first taster session, which was a fantastic event, enjoyed by 16 amazing folk from all sectors of our local community, the youngest being just 12 and the oldest  72. It was a great success and everyone one went home buzzing from the experience. 

We have set Shine up as a Community Interest Company, a non-profit making organisation working to broaden participation in music, to everyone in our community. 

There are very limited musical platforms in our area where non-musicians can come along and experience the joy of making music. Steel pans are the perfect choice where people at all levels of musical aptitude and experience can come together and become one. It is fun, exciting, very sociable and highly rewarding, especially in terms of personal achievement. Once we are more established and we have built our repertoire, public performances will be an opportunity for our players to demonstrate the joy and personal fulfilment that music can bring into our lives and how it can enhance our overall health and well-being. 

We have been fortunate locally and have received some help with our taster sessions from the Dart Music Festival Foundation who are active in supporting individuals and groups of local musicians. The Foundation has supported many musicians and music initiatives over the years and is widely respected for its work in the local community. It is supported by donations made to the annual Dart Music festival and these donations are designed to encourage and grow a music culture in the local area. We have also received a financial grant of £5000 from Dartmouth Town Council to whom we are very grateful. This will help to pay towards our annual rent and storage costs.

Why are we crowdfunding?

As a start-up community project we want to become a permanent opportunity in our local area, providing a new musical platform available to the whole community, musicians and non-musicians alike, where they can come together to enjoy a new music activity that simply didn't exist, until now. At present we have some old second hand steel band instruments on loan from the local Academy who have offered to sell them to us and we are awaiting the cost for these instruments. We have recognised the need to replace some of these ageing instruments and to add other equipment including, a drum kit, Bass guitar, speaker and associated hand held percussion instruments to the set up. Your donations will not only help us to buy this equipment but they will also ensure that we can survive well into the future.

How we'll spend the money raised

Having set up Shine from a standing start, we need to secure £4000 to buy existing older steel pan instruments on loan to us from our local Academy and to buy new equipment including, a drum kit, Bass guitar, speaker and associated hand held percussion instruments to the set up. 

Your donations will help us to:

• Buy existing older second hand instruments from our local academy.
• Buy a new bass guitar and speaker
• Buy a drum kit and other hand held percussion
• Help us to welcome and engage our local community
• Help us to fund some disadvantaged players to attend at a reduce fee or for free
• Employ highly skilled music educators to support all levels of ability, including young people with additional support needs
• Provide exciting and challenging performance opportunities and cover costs e.g transport costs i.e.van hire
• Help pay for our venue hire (The Guildhall, Dartmouth) and project administration
• Secure the future of Shine Steel Band, bridging the funding gap and demonstrating to current and future funders the level of support for this project from our community
• Raise awareness of our project to all in the community through targeted marketing eg. local magazine and newspapers etc.
• Offer weekend workshops and taster sessions to our players 

Some feedback from our first taster session on 28th March 2023:

"Thank you so much for last night, it was so much fun"

"Thanks so much for the really fun and enjoyable taster session last night. I can't wait for next week. Who knew steel drums could be so much fun!? Here's to Shine"

This project closed unsuccessfully on 11th May 2023