In the context of the Covid pandemic the associated closures of the children’s and youth facilities, the outdated traditional institution “Cologne Youth Park” was completely redesigned and converted into a facility for open children’s and youth work with a focus on media / digital youth media center, the Jugendzentrum.digital. The core idea and guiding goal has been to create a high-quality non-formal or informal educational offering for children and young people aged 7 to 27, regardless of their social background, school education and previous media knowledge, and to accompany them educationally in line with the principles of open children’s and youth work in the media and digital space.

Media education is to be experienced as a pleasurable and emotionally charged process, social disadvantages in media access are to be compensated for, media competence/criticism as well as creativity are to be promoted and the opportunity to be artistically active is to be opened. The low-threshold, action-oriented and participatory concept, which is oriented towards the (cultural) interests of the clients, encourages them to learn something about media and their modes of action, to produce media themselves according to their own ideas and to use media actively and with self-determination to speak out about their own subjects. In doing so, the young people change the perspective from passive consumers to active media producers.

In addition to coding & making, e-sports/gaming, streaming, photo and video production, the area of music/audio production is a central pillar within our Youth Media Centre. Music, as an integral part of young people’s lives and activities, is at the top of the list of (leisure) interests of children and young people as a multicultural medium. Adolescents not only consume music as a matter of course, there is an increasing desire to express themselves musically, to put their own thoughts into song lyrics and to record them, to underlay them with self-produced beats and to mix them, so that in the end they hold the self-produced track in their hands and can share it with their peers and proudly present it. In addition to band work (providing a fully equipped band rehearsal room, enabling concerts or performances), a state-of-the-art recording studio with recording booth was created, in which open hours as well as group sessions covering podcasts and radio plays, music production, film sound post-production, event technology with a focus on (live) sound and game sound design take place. There will also be beginner and expert workshops in the areas of music and audio production (recording, mixing, mastering), songwriting and lyrics as well as composition and arranging, vocal coaching and DJing.

High-quality and attractive equipment enables low-threshold access and invites engagement in artistic, creative production processes even by groups of visitors without a musical background. For advanced users, recording and performing opportunities open up new opportunities for presenting themselves and their own music and thus creating publicity for their own subjects and concerns. In addition, we use industry-standard professional software and hardware to ensure that our young people have a seamless entry into the world of work by familiarizing them with the common programs and thus helping them gain important basics. In this context, in addition to qualified workshop leaders from the music/audio industry, we rely on the “peer coach” principle. Experienced young people, as experts in their world, become instructors themselves and pass on their skills and knowledge to third parties as multipliers.

Thanks to the generous support of the Hans Thomann Foundation, we were able to further expand and complete our recording studio technology (including master keyboard, DAW controller, four audio interfaces, plug-in and patchbay), so that the first offerings for children and young people have been made possible and implemented since March 2023.

The entire team of employees of the Jugendzentrum.digital and especially the children and young people using the studio would like to thank the Hans Thomann Stiftung very much for their support.

Author:
Florian Kaltenegger
04 Nov 2023