•Rapucation is a company that provides a full range of workshops covering all elements of performance and art, however, specialising in the writing and performing of rap, vocal and spoken word lyrics which are used to teach young people about issues in society and to help them to investigate and think about their own place in society and their thoughts on the world and the future of our planet. We also encourage young people to be creative as part of a balanced sense of well being. Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life and we want to encourage all young people to create for this reason.
•In 2005/06 9170 pupils where excluded from Primary, Secondary and Specials Schools in England alone. Rapucation has already worked with 100 at risk pupils within the Kent Borough and helped them to gain confidence and find their love for the written word and also speak up about their issues and make some changes within their immediate environment in a positive way. In the first three years of business Rapucation will work with approximately 11,000 young people facing exclusion or battling the temptations of gang and drug crime through schools and youth clubs throughout the UK.•Rapucation supports the ambitions and targets set out in Every Child Matters – of which the five proposed outcomes for young people are:
• Be safe
•Be healthy
• Enjoy and achieve
• Make a positive contribution
• Achieve economic well being
•Rapucation believes that our work is essential in educational sector. From our personal experiences working with young people in our projects, we have found that many of the young people, who do not respond to or participate in the current curriculum, respond very well to Rapucation. This actively helps to reduce the amount of NEET young people and actively reduced the temptation to participate in crime. We have also found that our work has broken down social barriers in the youth environment, inspired confidence, self esteem and communication within the community. Rap music is a powerful tool and has been used for negative messages and gains globally; Rapucation is taking this power and turning into a positive method of education.
•Rapucation gives young people a chance to experiment with music, find new ways of expression and have contact with artists who are positive role models and can be an active influence on their future. Many of these young people would not have accessibility to these kinds of experiences due to money, living in isolated areas, are in detention centres, within a young offenders prevention schemes or simply lack confidence and need encouragement to become involved. Rapucation can take these opportunities directly into these young people’s immediate environment and empower them to get involved and create.
•Rapucation will provide a service to encourage the teaching of social education through the creation and performance of music, empowering young people to create their own message and speak out against any issues within their immediate environment in a positive way. The projects we hold also offer progression routes and pathways due to the complex nature of the performances. There is always a job for someone and many young people have found their vocation through our workshops. We also have a mentoring scheme where young people that have attended our courses can use their skills to work with other young people, which furthers their new found skills and increase their confidence even more.
•Rapucation has identified a gap between the current curriculum and youth culture and has been proven to build bridges between the two. Through this, education has already started to change in the schools that we have worked with and educators have congratulated us many times on our achievements and our methods of teaching. We are able to write tailor made courses to fit with the current curriculum and vital issues that needs to be faced within the youth community. I.e. for examples prejudice, sexism, bullying, drugs awareness and asylum seekers etc.
•Rapucation is the first business of this kind and has extremely good connections with the music industry as well as the education sector. We have searched our competitors and there is no other company offering the workshops that we offer and the alternative education methods we are using and the feedback we receive is always positive and passionate. We have many artists and educators who have championed our work and have written statements to say they will work for us and support us in our efforts.
