End of year news 2024
As another year passes, we reach the point in time where we look back on the achievements we have made as an organisation. It has been a successful 2024 for us as we expand on the work we began in 2023 in developing our three founding pillars; Artistic Collaboration, Audience Engagement, and Music and Arts Education.
Our most successful Artistic Collaboration was with Visual and Sound Artist, Joe Namy, as part of the ground-breaking Radio Underground Series for TFL. Deaf audiences are often excluded from sound art and this project aimed to ensure they were able to access visual information - the final piece included captions, music and sound descriptions.
Audience Engagement saw us working with deaf young people in Corby as part of the Deaf Roots, Tall Trees project where attendees were able to perform popular music at an informal social evening. More structured in approach, our collaboration with Formidability Opera took us to London, Birmingham and Glasgow to deliver creative sessions focused on expanding opera education to deaf people. Lastly was a trip to Wales and Deaf Gathering Cymru. We were honoured to be invited to speak on the topic “There’s no point in doing music if you are deaf is there?”
The lion's share of our work focused on Music and Arts Education which saw us travel the length and breadth of the United Kingdom. We continued our family outreach work in Essex by delivering a free workshop hosted by Essex Deaf Children’s Society welcoming 40+ families with the Imagine Project. Next was a trip to central London and to the Royal College of Music, Tri-borough Music Hub, for a tailored ‘Sparks’ Musical Senses’ session and then a hop, skip, and a jump to Kings Cross and the British Library for a series of family days designed to encourage deaf children to explore music through the written word and storytelling.
Next we boarded a flight bound for Ireland and a project which saw us visit 4 times in one year. Music and Health Ireland is an education and outreach programme, supporting music teachers across Ireland in connecting with the deaf community and improving sign language access and ISL to classical and live music venues and events. Following the success of this, we were invited to Dublin City University to work with music lecturers to expand their inclusivity provision.
Music and Health Ireland ‘Notes and Signs’ project. Photo by Dave Keegan Photography
As ever, we have worked with a number of deaf professionals and shall be looking to expand our pool in 2025. I’d like to thank those of you who have given your time to support us this year and I look forward to working with you again next year. I would also like to thank our trustees for their continued dedication, your advice and guidance has been invaluable.
Speaking of next year, we are looking for participants for a youth research project we are currently undertaking. Please do get in touch if you’d like more details. There are exciting times ahead as we look to launch our latest service and we plan to revisit our project roots with a number of funding applications.
All that remains is for me to thank you for your continued support, in particular the very kind donations we have received which allows our work to continue, and to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
Ruth Montgomery,
Artistic Director
