The CAVE Youth Initiative Centre
The CAVE (formerly Tyne Dock Youth Centre) specialises in music, dance and drama. We have a wide variety of projects that allow young people to get involved in creative and expressive activities.
Our aim is to let young people speak for themselves and to promote their active participation in both the management of the centre and the wider community through events and courses.
We run youth work sessions around most performing arts work and will shortly be able to offer more informal social activities using our café and chill-out areas.
We plan and stage concerts and events around the borough, including Sacred Rock Festivals at Temple Park Leisure Centre. We are also involved in the annual Youth Arts Week programme.
We pride ourselves on giving young people opportunities to perform and improve skills, whilst offering a nurturing environment to encourage social skills and citizenship.
We offer various routes to accredited achievement including:
- The Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme (not just camping and walking - although we can do all that stuff too!)
- The Arts Awards, which allow young people to gain meaningful qualifications whilst participating in their chosen hobby
- Adult and community learning, where we can set up and fund life-skills training.
The CAVE is also the base of South Tyneside Youth Action Volunteers. YAV is a local independent organisation who help young people get back to education or employment when school or family circumstances have made the normal routes too complicated. YAV offer activities and basic skills training to increase confidence and competence. It has been a very successful project for many years.
The Vision youth drama group also run from the CAVE, and have a well established reputation for quality work with a wide cross-section of young people.
We are generally open 9am to 9pm Monday to Friday, with possibilities for weekend opening for private hire sessions and band practice sessions by arrangement. THE CAVE YOUTH INITIATIVE CENTRE
CAVE YIC facilities
There's loads to do at the CAVE YIC:
Sports facilities
Multi-Use-Games -Area (MUGA)
The CAVE is now the proud owner of a great space to play a variety of sports, including football, basketball, and street hockey.
The MUGA is an open access community facility, and is available all of the time.
Look out for sports development sessions and inter-community games during the spring and summer!
Music facilities
Recording studio
We have a good quality 24 track recording studio on site, with instruments, backline and great microphones for young people to use and learn with.
The studio has recently been updated and improved, with a new digital mixing desk and better instrument facilities and we will be organising recording and production courses soon. Please contact us if you are interested.
Practice room
We have a small but well equipped practice room for bands and musicians, which although very busy, is available at a nominal charge for youth users.
Dance studio
We have a wooden floor dance area, with music playback and mirrored wall. We hope to equip this area with creative lighting and a dance bar, as soon as funding becomes available.
Performance hall
We have recently updated our main hall, which now has sound and lighting installations and a semi-permanent stage.
This is a hireable area, and is regularly used for fundraising events and youth biased social gatherings.
Other facilities
Training room
We have a well-equipped training area on our newly renovated first floor. Full audio / visual facilities are available for youth use and commercial hire to outside agencies. This includes a large projection screen, laptop and DVD/VHS players, along with a selection of audio systems. The room will comfortably hold 20 people, and can be configured with a wide variety of seating and table layouts etc.
Media office
The CAVE have recently launched a youth magazine which is based in our new media office, with facilities for desk top publishing, digital photo manipulation, graphics and web based research / development. We will also be taking over the good work of the South Tyneside young film-makers group with video production equipment and screening facilities.
Community café
With the help of Youth Action Volunteers (YAV), we aim to launch and operate a café style social area for young people, with the facility being staffed by YAV trainees. The kitchen and café area is also used for food hygiene and independent living courses.
We invite all young people with any interest in our activities to contact us and get involved.
We would also like to extend our invitation to established community groups and organisations that may wish to use our facilities and expertise.
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