‘Football Unites, Racism Divides’ (FURD) has won a £30,000 grant from Youth Music (Power Play) to develop and run a music project in two areas of Sheffield.

The ‘Sound Kickers’ project will give young people the chance to develop their own music project and learn about a range of issues such as community, health, relationships, race, culture and diversity.

Sound Kickers will run in Sharrow and Parson Cross and the project is supported by Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday football clubs, Sheffield Futures and Chilypep (‘Children and Young People’s Empowerment Project’).

Music organisations such as ‘Musicleader Yorkshire’, Sheffield Music Services and ‘Sheffield Live’ (community radio station) are also partners in the project.

Sound Kickers aims to give young people aged 8-18 across the two districts the opportunity to take part in quality music activity. A number of young volunteers will also receive training and accredited opportunities to help them become young music leaders.

Young people will get the chance to:
- lead on music projects
- collaborate with each other to write and record tracks
- perform at high profile events – which could include football match days or key locations around the city.

It is hoped that the project will provide opportunities to bring young people from different backgrounds together in order to break down barriers, improve relationships and increase racial tolerance.

Youcan find out more information by visiting the FURD website.