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Blue Cabin’s early music-making project has been shortlisted in the Youth Music Awards 2026.
This is the Place uses music-making to help build relationships and attachment between babies, children and their carers. This is the second time the project has been shortlisted for a Youth Music Award, in addition to it being a winner in the Children & Young People Now Awards in 2025.
“The whole team is thrilled with the news,” said Jenny Young, director of Blue Cabin. “So much care, planning and expertise goes into delivering this programme, and it’s wonderful to see it recognised alongside other brilliant music-led projects across the country.”
Music-making sessions for babies and children
Small group workshops, tailored for children aged 0 to 5 years and their carers, take place in Darlington, and in Redcar & Cleveland. Facilitated by Blue Cabin Associate Artists, Carol Bowden and Katie Doherty, the sessions are underpinned by social pedagogy and help care-experienced babies and children build stronger relationships with their carers.
Free early years music-making resources
A set of This is the Place early years music resources, including podcast episodes, a short film and a playlist of songs arranged and performed by Carol Bowden and Katie Doherty, are available on the Blue Cabin website, helping people to develop and strengthen relationships through play and music-making.
Free music-making kits
Every baby and child aged five years or younger, who is in care in Darlington and in Redcar & Cleveland, has been given a pack of free music-making resources to help them form an attachment with their foster carers.
In 2025, Blue Cabin worked with tialt – There is an Alternative to examine the impact of This is the Place.
“For the babies and children who have taken part – who can be as tiny as two weeks old – we found evidence that they are forming stronger bonds with their carers, showing improved cognitive, social and emotional development, and experiencing a more musical childhood,” explained Jenny Young, director of Blue Cabin.
There is an impact on the foster carers who attend This is the Place too, who experience a greater sense of community and peer support from other carers, and on the two local authorities which are partners in the programme, who have reported embedding of musical practice into their service plans and improvements in record-keeping for care experienced babies and children.
The Youth Music Awards celebrate people and projects shaping the future of music, and this year’s awards event will take place in Liverpool. Find out more.
This is the Place is delivered in partnership with Darlington Borough Council and with Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, with funding from Youth Music and Creative Darlington and partner local authorities. Find out more.
