It seems appropriate to blog about a Winter wonderland at such a Christmassy time of year, so here we go:
I’ve recently started working for Drake Music as the London Programme Manager and I’ve had a very busy and exciting past month. I can honestly say that I’ve met the most energetic and positive group of people. The most recent project that I attended was Winter Wonderland, and it was in partnership with Toynbee Hall, Spitalfields Music, and the MAP Squad. It was also ‘The best weekend ever’ according to one of the participants.
A group of young people from Inspire worked with young people based in Tower Hamlets with Special Educational Needs in an inclusive weekend of participatory workshops. The young people that Inspire works with are aware of the negative images that they may have amongst the communities they live in and Inspire aims to help bridge the gap by providing them with the opportunity to demonstrate that they are willing to have a positive impact on their community.
The workshops included DJing, song writing, and Accessible Music Technology. They were led by Gary Day from Drake Music and Roshi Nasehi from Spitalfields, and culminated in a final performance at the end of the weekend which was part of the Spitalfields Winter Festival.
I arrived early and walked into a room full of excitement, young people, and pizza – we all ‘checked in’ and the consensual agreement was that everyone was excited and nervous. There had been lots of fun, friends and music making, and as they’d composed 2 pieces of music, I couldn’t wait to hear how they had turned out. The concert comprised two performances of their compositions, DJ sets, and led onto the legendary Bubble Club night – all interspersed by players from the fabulous and rather famous Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment. There was even a performance from a Rihanna look alike at the end of the night.
The quality of the compositions, and performances were fantastic, have a listen and see what you think.
