Read to the Beat x Active Horizons
Over three days in August, ArtsTrain worked with Active Horizons and Bexley Libraries to bring together 15 young people aged 13-17 for Read to the Beat!, a creative project exploring books, storytelling and songwriting.
Read to the Beat! was the 2026 summer reading challenge, celebrating the joy of music and the power it has to move, inspire, and connect us - all through the magic of reading.
The project gave young people the opportunity to take inspiration from stories and literature and transform their ideas into original music.
Books that inspired the songwriting…
Across the three days, the young people read and identified books that inspired them. Our music leaders, Yasmin and Naz, encouraged them to think about the themes, characters and emotions they connected with, and consider how they could express these ideas through lyrics.
For one of the tracks, the young people sat down to take direct inspiration from one book each, writing poignant and heartfelt lyrics. They then puttting their ideas together line by line, to create an original spoken-word piece.
“We used books to find words – we found little pieces and put it together, rhyming it… My favourite lyric I wrote was: I want freedom from the fear from the voice that says you can’t.”
Listen to their spoken-word piece below:
As the songs began to take shape, the young people were also involved in the music production and recording process, developing their ideas and bringing their original tracks to life. One of the original songs’ hook was inspired by Nile Wilson’s ‘My Story’ – a book about the professional gymnast, his journey in and out of gymnastics, his struggles and rise to fame.
Original lyrics written by young people from Active Horizons
On the final day, Erith Library became the backdrop for creating a professional music video to their track ‘Wins and Losses’, bringing the young people into a local community space and giving some of them the opportunity to visit the library for the first time.
The young people learned how to use cameras and recording equipment, experimenting with different locations around the library, as well as a black screen backdrop and vibrant lighting choices. Everyone had their own role in shooting the video, giving each young person the opportunity to contribute both in front of and behind the camera.
Watch the music video below - shot by young people, edited by Naz Hoque:
“It was very fun, I really liked it, the music leaders really helped us, they taught us a lot about music but we also learnt new things like how to operate a camera and how to switch up lighting in the music video.”
It was brilliant to see the young people take ownership of their music and the creative process of building their own music video.
“I’m thrilled that we were able to work with ArtsTrain and Active Horizons this summer to enable local young people to explore their creativity and find inspiration from books and libraries. Both literacy and culture are core priorities in our library strategy and this partnership meant we were able to support a project that fits perfectly with our strategy and that reached an audience we traditionally find it a challenge to engage.”
We’re really proud of what the group created and grateful to everyone at Active Horizons and Bexley Libraries who helped make the project possible through the Read to the Beat! scheme.
“ArtsTrain and Active Horizons ran this amazing project for Bexley’s younger residents… By creating an accessible and engaging environment, we have been able to introduce a new audience to the opportunities that Bexley’s libraries and wider cultural offer can provide, helping to strengthen participation and ensure our services are relevant and accessible to all sections of our community.”
