Portfolio
Current Projects / Work
Bicester MIND
From February 2010 I will be facilitating a regular singing group with the charity MIND.
Sound Bites, Community Occupational Therapy, Churchill & Warneford Hospitals, OBMH
Sound Bites brings together older people with functional mental health problems from the Fulbrooke Centre and from the community, as well as incorporating anyone who turns up! We get together to sing and use our voices in the Warneford Hospital Chapel which has a wonderfully warm acoustic (and sometimes a warm floor if the heating has been switched on!) This started as an 8-week pilot running in the autumn 2009 and will continue for a further 8 weeks starting in January 2010.
Singing for the Brain, The Alzheimer’s Society
In September 2009 I started to lead a Singing for the Brain group in Grove, funded by The Alzheimer’s Society and the local mental health trust. In January 2010 a further Singing for the Brain group will begin to meet in Banbury. Singing for the Brain is a singing group for people with memory problems and their carers.
Leadership Lab
Leadership Lab is a collaborative project between different arts organisations based in the North-West. They are looking at sharing learning and my role is to facilitate online discussion and information sharing. I wrote a blog post about this which you can read here.
Singing for Fun, Age Concern
Since March 2009 I have been facilitating a weekly Singing for Fun group in Witney, supported by Age Concern. We sing lots of different types of songs – folk, jazz, rock, spirituals, pop music from different eras and songs from different parts of the world. In June we participated in Long Wittenham’s Charity Music Festival, ‘Wittfest’.
In November 2009 a new Singing for Fun group was established in North Leigh and in January 2010 another two are being set up in Fritwell and Carterton.
Previous Projects / Work
2009
Silver Song Clubs
In August 2009 I facilitated four Sing For Your Life ‘Road Show’ events in and around Oxford, in the form of Silver Song Clubs. You can read more about these here.
Singing Teacher
I taught for a term at Witney’s Stagecoach Theatre Arts School, teaching 6-16 year olds.
2008
Administrator
In July 2008 I moved to Oxford, and took up the post of Administrator at Fellowship of Reconciliation, England. I remained with them until April 2009, when I left in order to devote more time to my developing singing practice.
Project Worker – ICLS Leicester
For the first half of 2008 I worked at St Philip’s Centre as the project worker for Leicester’s Intercultural Communication and Leadership School (ICLS). This was a community development-style post, getting to know the young people of different faith communities, and organising training and other events for their benefit.
2007
Teaching Assistant
I worked for a term in a secondary girls’ school, supporting GCSE candidates with learning difficulties and disabilities.
Stitch and Tell
In May and June of 2007 I organised and delivered a community arts project linked with Leicester’s Fairtrade shop ‘Just’. The project was designed to raise people’s awareness of the importance of fairtrade organic cotton for farmers, their families and communities, and the environment. These issues were explored by encouraging people to think about the importance of particular fabrics or garments through practical workshops incorporating different types of textile techniques. Each participant’s work was displayed in an installation at Leicester’s annual Fairtrade Festival and Fashion Show. You can view photos of the outcomes here.
Young Traveller Girls Singing and Drama Project
As part of my pgdip in community arts practice, I completed, with another student, a placement which we organised and developed, through a local charity. The project was a short and intense series of drama and singing workshops with the girls from the local Irish Traveller community, culminating in a performance.
2005-2006
Silver Song Club, Cheriton
Helped deliver singing sessions at a Silver Song Club as a placement for BMus module ‘Music, Arts and Health’
Transcription and Copy-Editing
My summer job while a student was transcription, and copy-editing work for a freelance editor, including lots of use of the music software programme Sibelius.
Education
2006-2007 De Montfort University
Post-graduate Diploma Community Arts Practice
2003-2006 Canterbury Christ Church University
BMus (Hons) 2:1
Principal study: Voice
Dissertation title: The Role of Music in Tackling the Social Exclusion of Older People