MUSIC by young people at an East Oxford arts centre will be released on CD tomorrow.

Fusion Arts, in Princes Street, offered its Beat This! project to young people across the county last year.

Tunes created for the project will be sold to raise cash so other youngsters can take part in the scheme.

Fusion Arts artistic director Tara Stewart said: “Beat This! provided a space to focus on something of great interest and importance to them.

“It’s about helping them to follow their own direction creatively and socially. It’s about getting their creative ideas out there.”

Young people aged 14 to 25 took part in masterclasses on lyric writing, music production and performance skills.

The classes, held in Witney and East Oxford, also enabled the young musicians to work towards the creative arts certificate Arts Awards Accreditation.

Mrs Stewart said the workshops were open to youngsters from challenging backgrounds, including those not in full time education, employment or training (NEETs).

Some had experienced homelessness or were referred to the project by Oxfordshire County Council’s Early Intervention Service.

Mrs Stewart, of Banbury, added: “We saw what impact the arts can have on that age group of people coming into adulthood and needing to find their own direction and dealing with sometimes quite complex situations and emotions.”

Project members worked with professional musicians before composing their own songs, which they performed at last July’s Cowley Road Carnival and at the Old Fire Station.

The young people will reunite tomorrow to launch their CD at the Fusion Arts base between 7.30pm and 9.30pm before performing their own tunes.

Cash raised from sales of the five-track CD, available online from BG Records, will help fund the next Beat This! course.

Last year the project was funded by grants of just over £24,000 from the charity Youth Music and £2,500 from Oxfordshire County Council.

Project leader Zahra Tehrani said the masterclasses can only continue if the charity has enough funding. Miss Tehrani, who lives in East Oxford, added: “It was one of the best projects I ever ran. This is something I’m really behind happening again.

“It’s helped them realise what goes into running events and writing and producing songs.

“It’s about them having trust with the people running it and finding confidence to express themselves. It’s a massive challenge to even get there, let alone be a part of it.”

Project member Elliot Vanderhyde, 23, said: “Beat This! was a way I could express a love for music and take part in a collaboration exercise.

“Music means that anything that I go through or feel can be put on to melodious composition and that makes living easier.”

For further details about the project, visit bgrecords.bandcamp.com