Hello everyone!
As the year draws to an end, I just wanted to thank you all so much for being involved with our Learning Programme here at Band on the Wall. It has been a fantastic term here, and I would love to share with you some highlights from the past few months.
We collaborated with our friends at Community Arts Northwest in AUGUST to deliver a summer school, called World of Music: Without Borders. Young people aged 13-18, with roots in Iran, Eritrea, Turkey, Syria, Sudan, Ukraine, Kuwait, and the UK came to Band on the Wall to explore the theme of ‘a world without borders.’ The three-day summer school saw young people explore songwriting, samba drumming, group singing, drama, photography, as well as exploring and developing their own instruments and creative ideas. This ended with a fantastic performance on our Bar Stage for friends and family to enjoy.
SEPTEMBER saw the start of a new term, with our usual programmes returning as well as a few new additions. We held yoga sessions, led by the wonderful Dolores McGowan, in our learning space open to all ages and abilities. This was a wonderful welcoming course for the local community. Our Jazz Workshop has expanded, with Munch Manship leading a new Wednesday Jazz Theory course, teaching participants the basics of jazz theory, and helping them incorporate these skills into their improvisation and general playing. The group joined the Jazz Workshop for their performance on the Bar Stage at the end of the course.
Another successful Media Club came into full swing in OCTOBER, where tutors Ryan Cooper and Johan Reitan taught the basics of photography, filming, and interviewing, ending with participants filming and interviewing some of the fantastic artists playing in the venue.
Whilst we were running our weekly programmes at Band on the Wall, musicians Ellen Beth Abdi and Richard Kankondo were visiting three secondary schools in the city over 8 weeks, leading after-school workshops for students interested in songwriting and performing. In NOVEMBER schools celebrated the end of their time with our musician’s by performing in our main venue to friends and family.
DECEMBER has been a busy one! We have had a brilliant end of term performance from our Saturday Morning Music Club, showcasing our younger group, older group and Youth Choir and the fantastic work they have been up to. All three of our adult choirs packed out the bar for a festive celebration, and our Early Years programme ended our term with a festive-themed day of music making. We launched our Echoes from the Attic archive website, and visitors came to our bar to see the website in action, as well as exploring some flyers and posters from the past.
We cannot wait to continue with our brilliant Learning Programme in the new year, and we hope to see you here at Band on the Wall soon. We are able to run these programmes through funding and donations, from organisations such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund, The Oglesby Charitable Trust, and The Granada Foundation. If you would like to donate and support us, we would be so grateful! You can donate here.
Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!
Best wishes
Alice