FRESH efforts to bring bands, promoters and venues together look set to bring a bit of gusto to the local live music scene.

The initiative dubbed Cum Brio - a Cumbrian play on the music term Con Brio which means with gusto or spiritedly - will see a new Cumbria-wide music network set up, breathing new life into music in the county, sparking ideas and just maybe discovering new stars.

Jim Mawdsley of Generator a music development agency for the north of England along with our local man on the ground Andy Halsey of Music Links have already laid the foundations of the new initiative, which aims to support original music from bands of all ages.

Resources have been stumped up by agencies including the Arts Council and Cumbria County Council.

A year-long round of events has been planned, including monthly gigs in venues around the county from Whitehaven to Kendal and Barrow.

Cum Brio will be launched on January 17 with a showcase of local bands at the Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal.

"The network in Cumbria is best described as patchy at the moment but we want to strengthen it by getting promoters and venues to talk to one another and give the best bands the chance to access more venues and bigger audiences," said Andy.

Jim, who has a long history of working with bands and DJs, including the likes of Sara Cox's husband Jon Carter, said: "If you give people a solid foundation to work on, the quality of their work increases".

Besides regular gigs, advice and support, Cum Brio has plans to set up a series of industry days, bringing musicians into contact with record company and A&R representatives. They will also bring out a directory listing venues, music shops and other contacts.

Other advice will include surgeries on how to send off a demo to a record company and how to get a manager.

"I am really excited about this. It is quite a challenging project and it is an opportunity to get everyone together. That can sound quite utopian but we have experience of doing that on a national basis. In the North East, we have already had a lot of success," said Jim.

For details of the project, contact Network co-ordinator Andy Halsey on 01539-735083. Alternatively, log onto www.musiclinks.org.uk or contact Generator on www.generator.org.uk.