About The Organisation

Drum Works teaches drumming to over 500 young people each week in some of the most deprived areas of East London. We work mainly in secondary schools, but also run community-based programmes and use drumming as a tool to inspire creativity, build self-confidence and empower young people to direct their futures.

Many of our participants experience complex barriers (special educational needs and disabilities, poverty, care responsibilities, behavioural, emotional & social difficulties etc). The musical material is created by the participants themselves but taught by experienced professional musicians and has a fresh, distinctive sound that reflects our community. The collaboration of music-making helps to break down social barriers, engage young people that find it hard to engage in more traditional school activities and build a supportive community.

We perform regularly at local community events and larger events when invited – from marathons and fun-runs to the Royal Variety performance. High-profile performances build our profile and demonstrate to participants that hard work and commitment achieve amazing results. Participants from schools who wish to develop their skills can join a progression ensemble and we run an assistants programme to train older members to help deliver our work to the next generation.

We have two part-time members of staff (including our MD) who run the programme and a group of passionate and experienced freelance musicians and teachers who deliver our work. The organisation is overseen by a Board with members from backgrounds in education, the Arts and various commercial sectors. Some schools pay towards the costs of Drum Works in their schools and adults attending our community programmes pay to attend. We delivery paid gigs and training to corporate clients whenever possible. However, we are increasingly dependent on grant funding from organisations such as Youth Music, Children in Need, Arts Council, City of London etc.