Chart and BBC playlist success for University and social enterprise’s music single
A team from the University of Chester who collaborated with a Community Interest Company to make a music single are delighted to see its positive reception.
University music students and staff worked with community performing arts group Work in Progress Rhyl CIC, which includes singer-songwriter Jack Eagle, to create the track, remix package and video for Find Your Light, released on October 10 to coincide with World Mental Health Day.
The initiative is part of a research project which investigated the impact of collaborative songwriting, music production, and film-making on participants’ sense of identity, empowerment, and community belonging.
Since its release, Find Your Light has reached number 26 on the iTunes UK Pop chart, alongside tracks by Taylor Swift, James Blunt and Harry Styles, and number 54 in the iTunes UK main chart.
Additionally, a remix of the song by music producer CAM_S – a former University of Chester student – has been added to the BBC Radio Wales Welsh A-List.
All profits from the song go to Work in Progress and Café71 run by the Spider Project. Work in Progress is an inclusive performing arts group for adults aged 18-plus that puts positive mental health and wellbeing at the heart of everything it does. It was co-founded and is run by Executive Producer Toby Fagan and Artistic Director Leslie Churchill Ward. Café71 is a safe, non-clinical, community space in Chester for anyone struggling to cope in a crisis.
Drawing on the University’s professional recording, production, and performance facilities, the students worked alongside researchers and community participants throughout the songwriting, recording, filming, and production process.
The project built on findings from a pilot study, Creative Communities: Performing Arts as a Co-Creative Approach to Improving Wellbeing in a Socially Deprived Area, led by Associate Professor Ruth Dockwray, Dr Pamela Barnes and Jim Mason from the University of Chester’s Division of Communication, Screen and Performance.
Jim, Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for Music Production at the University, said: “We are delighted that the CAM_S remix of Find Your Light has been added to this high-profile BBC playlist. CAM_S is a recent graduate of our MA Popular Music course. Cam, the Work in Progress group and University of Chester students and staff were absolutely delighted when this brilliant news was shared with them.”
On the song’s chart success, Leslie for Work in Progress Rhyl said: “The experience of writing the song, recording it, shooting the music video – and everything in between – has been life-changing for our members.
Thank you – diolch – to all who downloaded our song and its remixes. Thank you so much to the University of Chester, to Jim Mason, Dr Ruth Dockwray, Dr Pamela Barnes, and University students Georgia Mackay and Holly Hilton. We are all a ‘Work in Progress’ – together we can do so much!”
The single, remixes and video can still be downloaded and streamed from all major platforms including: iTunes Music Store; Amazon; Spotify and YouTube Music.