{"id":677904,"date":"2026-01-06T15:01:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T15:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/677904\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T15:01:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T15:01:15","slug":"beats-bars-and-belonging-at-ace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/677904\/","title":{"rendered":"Beats, bars and belonging at ACE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aspiration Creation Elevation (ACE) offers creative support and guidance to young people. With them, Adam explores the complex realities young people face today \u2013 and reflects on his own journey along the way<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n


\n \"Adam
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t get a smartphone until I was 30. I spent most of my twenties with one of those old-school Nokia bricks. My only experience of social media was a MySpace page for my band (a drum n bass\/funk\/metal fusion band that, for some reason, never took off) until, at 28, my then-girlfriend finally coerced me into joining Facebook.<\/p>\n

I have to keep my nostalgia for the 90s and early 2000s in check. My twenties were far from plain sailing: I shuffled between jobs and periods of unemployment, frequently sofa surfing at friends\u2019 houses and struggling with poor mental health.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Conversely, some things were easier then. I had a support network, I travelled frequently and picking up work, while tricky, was not quite the thankless, soul-shredding task it has since become.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There have definitely been improvements since I was younger. Conversations around mental health are more nuanced, consent and sexual violence are better understood, queer identities more accepted, and gender equality discussed more widely.<\/p>\n

\n

I wanted to mirror the positive mentorship I\u2019d had and create that same space for others<\/p>\n

Darren Alexander<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But the cultural and social environment we\u2019re now living in feels like another universe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Our economy has failed young people. Precarity is the norm and the once established path of: \u201cGo to school, get good grades, go to uni, get a good job\u201d \u2013 is now redundant. Living costs are outrageous, well-paying secure jobs are scarce, and those who decide to go to university are saddled with enormous debt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Social media has infiltrated every aspect of our lives. Cultivating an online persona is second nature for young people who grew up as digital natives. And while research spelling out the harmful effects of social media on self-esteem, mental health and body image is overwhelming, there\u2019s no escape from the constant bombardment of content telling you your life is not as good as it should be.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How does this all show up on a local level? What\u2019s it like for young people growing up in Bristol, and how are they navigating this jarring reality we find ourselves in?<\/p>\n

Visiting ACE\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a chilly evening in late October when I step through the doors of Docklands youth centre in St Pauls. In the music studio, dimly lit with red light, the cold gives way to a sense of warmth and quiet concentration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A handful of young people are working: some analyse their compositions on computer screens, others record vocals in the booth. Around them, three youth workers offer guidance.<\/p>\n

ACE is a longstanding youth engagement programme designed to support and mentor young people facing social, economic and racial barriers. Over the past decade it has inspired whole generations of Bristol\u2019s youth.<\/p>\n

\"\"Warren, 24, is a regular attendee at ACE. Credit: Keycreationz.<\/p>\n

But with rising insecurity, low self-esteem and a social media\u2013dominated culture, the work feels more urgent \u2014 and more difficult \u2014 than ever.<\/p>\n

Upstairs, I meet Darren Alexander, ACE\u2019s founder. Wearing an ACE hoodie and a wide-brimmed baseball cap, he tells me about growing up in Barton Hill \u2014 an area of widespread deprivation that offered few opportunities for young people.<\/p>\n

He was inspired to start ACE in 2013 by his own experiences of youth work. \u201cI found a lot of benefit from that,\u201d he says, fondly recalling how to use music technology at a mentoring scheme he joined as a teenager. \u201cThrough that project, I built my skills as a musician and as a young professional, to then start to lead projects myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

After years of freelance youth work across the city, from Lockleaze to Barton Hill to St Pauls, Darren decided to create the kind of environment that had once supported him. \u201cThere was definitely this sense of \u2014if you look a certain way, this is how you should behave,\u201d he says, reflecting on the pressures young Black men faced growing up. \u201cI wanted to mirror the positive mentorship I\u2019d had and create that same space for others.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than a decade later, ACE has 15 staff and runs creative workshops, nature outings, one-to-one mentorships and school sessions, working with children from age eight up to young adults in their early twenties.<\/p>\n

\u2018What I\u2019m most proud of is just keeping at it\u2019<\/p>\n

Warren, 24, a regular attendee at ACE<\/p>\n

I come to ACE music studio quite often, mainly because I\u2019ve always wanted to be a rapper and make music, but I never had the resources or guidance on how to do it. The first few sessions I came here, I didn\u2019t really do anything. After some time, I actually got into the booth and started rapping and getting my confidence up.<\/p>\n

People are friendly and encouraging \u2014 that\u2019s what makes this place different. I\u2019ve made new friends and collaborators. Everyone just gets on.<\/p>\n

I make boom bap hip hop. So nineties rap sort of stuff. My favourite from that era? I think I would have to say Nas, not gonna lie. That song \u201cThe World is Yours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone these days is online. They\u2019re stuck glued to their phones, no one really goes outside that much. What this place provides is a third space, a place for people to actually come together and communicate with each other.<\/p>\n

I was very isolated for a very long time. It was hard to come out of that shell. But what I\u2019m most proud of is just keeping at it. There were times where I didn\u2019t really want to go, but I was like, nah, this would make my day better, so I would just force myself to go. And I\u2019m proud that I kept doing it because now I have a community of people to talk to, to make music with and it\u2019s really good to be in that space.<\/p>\n

I definitely do wanna drop an album. I\u2019m thinking of calling it \u201cSmith Pack.\u201d I\u2019m a bit of a perfectionist, so I thought \u2013 hey, why don\u2019t we just make a bunch of mixtapes? We don\u2019t try polish it. It\u2019s just a pack of different songs. You wanna listen, go and listen. Here it is.<\/p>\n

Isolation and self-esteem<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite ACE\u2019s success, Darren says the challenges facing young people today are immense. \u201cA lot of young people feel like they\u2019re a little bit lost,\u201d he tells me, describing the lingering impact of Covid lockdowns on education and confidence. \u201cWhen it comes to thinking about their future, their self-worth and where they\u2019re positioned in the world, there\u2019s a bit of a disconnect.\u201d<\/p>\n

The online space, Darren adds, \u201ccan be very dangerous. Young people are exposed to things that aren\u2019t healthy for them and don\u2019t contribute to their lives in positive ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

He and his team have noticed a rise in extreme beliefs, particularly among young men. \u201cA lot of boys and young men get fed a narrative of what men should be and what women should be. And a lot of the time those positionings are based on the man oppressing the woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much-needed conversations about masculinity have, in many ways, been hijacked by the \u2018manosphere\u2019 \u2014 an online space full of notorious grifters and abusers \u2014where regressive ideas about women and cartoonish versions of \u2018alpha\u2019 manhood spread with alarming ease.<\/p>\n

For vulnerable young men, those images and messages can feel like guidance, even when they\u2019re deeply damaging. This all has an obvious knock-on effect on young women.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019ve observed through my experience is that girls and women have it really tough. Unjustly difficult,\u201d Darren says. \u201cThere\u2019s a real fear [among young women] to be seen, because if you are seen, then you can be taken advantage of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conversations like this frequently come up in one of ACE\u2019s school programmes called spACE, where young people can explore their emotions and question assumptions in a non-judgemental environment. \u201cWe might start with something like: \u2018It\u2019s not okay for your dad to cry, but it\u2019s okay for your mum to cry\u2019. Why is that? What happens when your dad can\u2019t express his emotions?\u201d says Darren.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These conversations are simple but powerful \u2014 small acts of unlearning that build empathy and awareness.<\/p>\n

Despite the scale of the challenges, Darren remains proud. \u201cWe are a small organisation, but I always feel like we punch above our weight,\u201d he says. \u201cWe make a lot of what we have, and young people that we work with find a sense of belonging.\u201d<\/p>\n

As I leave the centre, I reflect on the conversations I\u2019ve had. The moment we\u2019re living in often feels overwhelming. Young people are facing tides of misinformation and an economy not geared towards their needs. A largely indifferent political class offers few tangible solutions, while an even more distant tech elite makes vast profits by keeping us distracted and tugging at our insecurities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the national and global picture often feels bleak, perhaps the solutions are local. I\u2019m reminded that, amid a world of online noise and insecurity, places like ACE \u2014 rooted in the community and committed to nurturing young people \u2014 are keeping vital spaces for in-person conversation and connection alive.<\/p>\n

Independent. Investigative. Indispensable.<\/p>\n

Investigative journalism strengthens democracy \u2013 it\u2019s a necessity, not a luxury.<\/p>\n

The Cable is Bristol\u2019s independent, investigative newsroom. Owned and steered by more than 2,600 members<\/b>, we produce award-winning journalism that digs deep into what\u2019s happening in Bristol.<\/p>\n

We are on a mission to become sustainable, and to do that we need more members. <\/b>Will you help us get there?<\/b><\/p>\n


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