Access Music Project (AMP) is is a project of the public benefit organisation, The Artwork Collective. The programme seeks to assist learners who are musically inclined but lack the resources for private coaching.
AMP provides music training for learners, in Joza location, in all instruments from grades 1 to 5. Should a student wish to continue with music after completing grade 5, they qualify to audition for a scholarship to attend tertiary institutions.
The Doorways Programme, under AMP, is an initiative through which AMP engages with scholars in grades 11 and 12 and assists learners with applications for jobs and universities. The programme also arranges “shadow shifts” for scholars who wish to learn more about their prospective careers before applying. Thozamile Ngeju, the AMP programme co-ordinator says “The Doorways Programme is important because it assists learners who are lost and might not know where to go” once they’ve completed their matric.
Athenkosi Nelani, a former beneficiary of AMP says, “AMP is very important because there is no other project which offers music education in the location”.
Nelani qualified to audition for a music degree at Rhodes University in 2015.
He graduated with a bachelor of music degree and is currently the conductor of the
Rhodes University Chamber Choir and a volunteer of AMP. Nelani says, “I am so privileged to have been a part of the programme. I am only where I am now because of it. I have no words.”
AMP believes that music provides a space in which children can explore those parts of their selves that cannot be understood through words, and develop critical and alternative ways of thinking and expression. The opportunity to study music formally can open up another world of pathways for children who are talented and aspiring musicians.
Read more about AMP here: https://accessmusic.org.za/
