#Digital Tenderness
FUNDED BY
#DigitalTenderness is a programme of activity first launched by Tees Music Alliance in 2020 to meet some of the social and well-being needs of local people.
#DigitalTenderness aims to increase levels of well-being amongst our creative community – artists, promoters, stage crews and the people who support our events.
We are now delighted to have received support from The National Lottery Community Fund to extend and expand #DigitalTenderness for a further two years – up to March 2026.
Some of the effects of the pandemic are still being felt – and are now being added to by the UK’s cost of living crisis, discouraging people from coming out to socialise once again; adding to feelings of isolation and poor well being.
With #DigitalTenderness, we hope to help address some of the issues affecting our community in our own small way, with a range of accessible activities to entertain and inform people.
#DigitalTenderness is kindly funded by The National Lottery Community Fund – made possible by the generosity of National Lottery players.
#DigitalTenderness is our way of showing that music activity cuts across almost everyone…
Yes, we know that most people’s thoughts of music activity is someone standing on a stage – hoping to become the next “big thing” – but there’s much more to it than that. Talent development is a big part of what Tees Music Alliance does – but the benefits of music go far beyond music careers.
Music brings people together across ages, cultures, and backgrounds – local choirs and festivals build shared identity and pride – collectively known as community cohesion.
Music brings people together – including older people, those who live alone or people new to an area. This creates routing social contact and builds friendships – helping to reduce social isolation and loneliness.
Music participation has been shown to help reduce anxiety, depression and stress -helping to improve our mental health. Participating in music activity can boost mood, confidence, and emotional expression.
Participating in music can also bring health benefits – singing improves breathing and posture; playing instruments can support fine motor skills and coordination; and dance and rhythmic music encourage gentle physical activity. It’s all good stuff!
As part of #DigitalTenderness, we organise specific events, for local people to attend…
There is more information on these events via the links below – just click on the image.
On Saturday February 28th, we’ll be holding an “Open Day” – giving local people a chance to look around our buildings and behind the scenes of what we do. Entry is FREE but tickets are recommended and can be booked HERE.
In June 2024, we held a “taster day” at Tees Music Alliance – where we gathered a range of people who work in our industry to illustrate the range of jobs and educational opportunities on offer within the music industry.
We did this to encourage more people from our local area to engage with creative careers – and to show that opportunities can be available to all.
In August we provided a free programme of live music to encourage people to visit our venues, The Georgian Theatre and The Green Room – many of whom were visiting us for the first time for some time.
We want people to feel welcome in our venues – especially after a tough few years for local people…
In October, we introduced local people who are interested in pursuing music as a career to two north east based music professionals as part of informative, but informal, social evening. This was the first of a series of Musician’s Meet Up sessions.
As Xmas approached, we took some time to visit a number of day centres in the local area to bring some seasonal music.
These included residential accommodation for older people and day centres for people living with with dementia or a profound learning disability.
Find out more HERE
In January – to celebrate Independent Venue Week – we invited a group of young people from Hartlepool over to our venue to find out how events work behind the scenes.
The young people watched a band setting up, and had chance to ask the performers questions about their work. We then moved into a quiet space for a Q&A session… followed by pizza!
“Thanks so much to you and your team for making us all feel so welcome and providing us with an amazing experience. It was the perfect bonding experience for my little group.
The excitement of a live performance will live long in their memories and it’s hopefully sown a seed to aspire to one day perform in your fantastic venue.”
Hartlepool Rocks (Young People’s Music Group)
In November, we held a social gathering for people who might be interested in song writing, but needed some direction and encouragement.
In February, we held another musician’s meet up to discuss some of the opportunities and some of the challenges facing them today.
Also in February, we held another informal Songwriter’s Social to encourage people into our venue to meet and discuss ideas.
In April, by popular demand, we started up a community based ‘Guitar Choir’ – a chance for guitarists of all levels of experience (and none!), to pop along to Green Dragon Studios for a sociable jam…
Led by local musicians, George Bailey and Chris Graham, the ‘choir’ welcomes everyone who wants to get involved.
If you know a few chords, great. If you don’t the choir will teach you; and you’ll gain confidence to rehearse and perform with the group.
Throughout 2025 we’ve continued to programme our Songwriter Socials and Musician’s Meet Ups – which have proved very popular ways of bringing people together in a safe space.
As we approached the festive season in 2025, we staged a number of creative workshops across the Tees Valley – inviting families to get involved in designing a finale showcase – staged at our venue, The Georgian Theatre on December 7th.
PREVIOUS PROJECTS
#DigitalTenderness originally ran at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic presenting online activities or those which were possible with strict social distancing.
A second edition of our project ran between summer 2022 and spring 2023 – but with a programme of face to face activity running alongside an online programme.
Click on the tiles above to visit previous phases of #DigitalTenderness.