With a mission to engage young people through music and sound, Auckland-based social enterprise Crescendo have been engaging and inspiring thousands of rangatahi since 2012. Crescendo would love your support this NZ Music Month, with just a few clicks…

Based in Avondale, Auckland, and founded by Marcus Powell (Blindspott), the friendly team at Crescendo encompasses a diverse community of young people and mentors offering education and access to vocational training opportunities within the creative industries.
With professionally-equipped studios and learning spaces to teach and create productions for music projects, voice-overs, podcasting, audiobooks, commercial advertising jobs, and sound design for filmmakers and beyond, Crescendo have been instrumental in fostering some seriously creative young people.

“We believe that all young people have their own innate gifts and talents and our mentors work with rangatahi to build self-confidence to help them achieve their goals,” says Crescendo’s CEO Cat Percy. “Our programmes are delivered by industry professionals so young people not only gain top-quality technical skills, but also gain from the emphasis we put on personal development, self-awareness and wellbeing.”

Crescendo is making a big fundraising push during NZ Music Month 2023, in order to drive further successes and positive outcomes, often for some of the most marginalised and at-risk young people in our communities throughout Tāmaki Makaurau. OneNZ has donated $100,000 to be shared amongst worthy charities such as Crescendo, and by signing up for the ‘One Good Kiwi’ app and donating your share of the free tokens every user receives, you can help make this happen! It’s free to lend your support and it will make a big difference to Crescendo.

Thanks to committed sponsors such as NSL Group Ltd and supporters, Crescendo Studio in Avondale is kitted out with quality gear, with multiple recording rooms featuring Shure microphones and a QSC system available for live performances from students. Avondale itself is no stranger to talented musicians coming through the ranks – Tom Scott (Avantdale Bowling Club) and Melodownz being notable examples – and a new breed of local young talent seems just around the corner thanks to the programmes Crescendo offers. Church & AP celebrated their early success with Crescendo where – alongside skilled musician and producer Izak Kennedy who also went through Crescendo’s programme as a student – the hip hop duo recorded their first EP.

“We’re really a testament to the success of community outreach programmes,” says Elijah Manu (Church). “A lot of people think they are for troubled youth and that it leads nowhere, but Ready Or Not was made in Crescendo Studio. It was made in a room probably no bigger than your bathroom.”

That track received airplay everywhere from Mai FM to BBC Radio1Xtra, helped the group take home multiple Pacific Music Awards, and is currently sitting at over 10 million Spotify streams and half a million YouTube views. Kennedy says the EP – and consequently, Church & AP’s success – would not have been possible without Crescendo; its experience, expertise, resources, and support.

“We are proud of all our students and artists that join Crescendo’s programmes and go on to achieve their own well-deserved success both outside and in the creative industry. We are honoured to be part of their journey and love to see our rangatahi flourish! It takes a team and we are so grateful to all our supporters, especially NSL Group Ltd, who were able to kit out much of our studio with industry-standard microphones, headphones, and speakers from Shure and QSC.” Marcus Powell, Crescendo Founder

Download the app to donate to Crescendo:
www.onegoodkiwi.nz