Big Noise: real, meaningful and lasting change

To coincide with the launch of the latest evaluation of Big Noise Trust the process: Big Noise impact on participants, families and their wider communities, we have asked Sistema Scotland's Chief Executive Vicky Williams to share her reflections in this guest blog.

Like many organisations working to change lives in Scotland, we talk about the difference Big Noise makes.

But we also ask: how do we know?

Every day, we see the impact in the lives of the children and young people we work with – in their smiles, their growing confidence, and the friendships they build through music.

We see all that, but we need to know that those changes are real, meaningful and lasting.

That is why we have worked with the Glasgow Centre for Population Health since 2012, to rigorously and independently evaluate our impact. Previous reports have given us valuable insight – including the finding that 98% of young people who stayed engaged with Big Noise over the long term moved on to positive destinations after school.

The latest independent evaluation, Trust the Process, led by Aileen Campbell, builds on that evidence. It shows “positive and sustained” change in communities in Scotland facing the biggest challenges. It highlights improvements in skills, confidence, social connections and emotional wellbeing, all of which help to mitigate the effects of poverty and inequality. Importantly, the research focussed on outcomes that matter to the young people themselves – including their musical development, their relationships and their futures.

The evaluation also found that Big Noise after-school programmes delivered the most significant and lasting impact – reinforcing the importance of long-term, consistent support within communities.  

But it is in the lives of real people who we have watched grow up that we see this most powerfully.

Ben, who is now 21, joined Big Noise Raploch at the age six and said it was a place where he could focus, feel safe and develop the discipline that later helped him succeed at school and now in college. Through music, he built resilience, confidence and responsibility, skills he uses every day in his sound production course. He told researchers: "Big Noise changed the trajectory of my life."

We are proud of everything that our children and young people have achieve, and of the communities we are part of. This evaluation gives us something vital: independent, robust evidence that long-term, community-based programmes like Big Noise can deliver meaningful, lasting change.

You can find out more about GCPH's evaluation of Sistema Scotland since 2012 here.