We Out Here show in aid of MAP Charity

Each month with our digital shows we will be raising funds for a different charity close to our hearts. As this month's show has a focus on Leeds talent, we are supporting a charity that is very close to home  - MAP Charity.

What do they do?

MAP Charity stands for Music and Arts Production and exist to support young people aged 11-16, who are at risk of permanent exclusion from mainstream education. They offer vital, empowering music and arts qualifications, and provide students with an inspiring place to learn. Here, they have a safe and permanent space where creativity can flourish.

Alongside their work with young people, they support a community of local creative partners: from screen printing firms to musicians, they offer space and support and in return partners provide students with enhanced learning, valuable work experience and professional development opportunities. All of this is delivered at Hope Foundry, nurturing the next generation of creative professionals.

MAP are at a pivotal moment of growth in the charity’s 12 year history - and they need our help to succeed. In 2019, they purchased the building they call home, appropriately named Hope Foundry, and have ambitious plans to refurbish the site to accomodate for an increase in demand for MAP Charity’s services over the next 5 years. Their plans will enable them to support a greater number of young people on the education programme, will help the charity establish professional development opportunities such as apprenticeships and will open up the site to be used by the local community in the Mabgate area of Leeds. 

“MAP Charity are looking to provide a replicable model resolving the tension between regeneration and the support, retention and preservation of the existing strengths of an area and the community within it. This is an important project for our city, and ever more relevant in the light of Leeds’ cultural aspirations.”

- Tom Riordan, Chief Executive, Leeds City Council

Mabgate is located in Leeds’s Burmantofts and Richmond Hill ward and is one of the most deprived wards in the UK, in 2018 Lincoln Green Health Needs Assessment stated that, “49% of children in this small area live in poverty, compared to the 26% Leeds average”. The Warwick Commission reported that people from low income families with parents who have lower educational qualifications are less likely to be employed and succeed in the creative industries - MAP’s programme aims to change this inequality.

TUNE IN THURSDAY 22ND JULY VIA WEOUTHEREFESTIVAL.COM to listen to some of Leeds & Londons best live musicians & DJs.