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Help The Sing For Freedom Choir verified by Locality.3 years ago
14%
Impact data and claims within this report are provided by the project creator and have not been independently verified by Spacehive.
In 2021, the Sing For Freedom Choir has ambitious plans to welcome new members, make a music video for Zero Discrimination Day, and hire a community support worker to provide vital pastoral support.
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The Sing For Freedom Choir is a remarkable group of people who sing from a shared love of music to reclaim the voice that torture so cruelly tried to silence. This amazing and vulnerable community is made up of Survivors affiliated with UK charity Freedom from Torture after facing extreme difficulties in their countries of origin, and Londoners who join to sing in solidarity with them . In 2019 they were perilously close to shutting down and were saved by the Spacehive community. The Sing For Freedom Choir has fought to stay together during lockdown, providing a lifeline at a time where many of the members have found the usual services they access cut. Some of them have been working on the front line as NHS workers, and many of them do not have access to data and technology at home. Despite this, they have managed to make the I Choose Love music video as a demonstration of solidarity with survivors everywhere, inspiring resilience at the time of hardship and anxiety.
What we'll deliver:
Why it's a great idea:
The project will enable more people who have experienced displacement to access the therapeutic benefits of singing in a choir. Sing For Freedom Choir has changed lives, and as one member says, "One of the worst things about torture is that it silences you….the choir has given me back a voice". The film created for Zero Discrimination Day will empower people who regularly experience discrimination, including those with disabilities, refugees and asylum seekers, to provide a vision of what a more inclusive world could be through performance of "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing", with a message of ending discrimination. With services cut as a result of the pandemic, hiring a community support worker will offer, once a week, vital pastoral support and signposting to mutual aid, education and employment opportunities. By offering training in digital technology and data support, we will enable our members to not only access the choir, but also connect to vital support services.
Steps to get it done:
Please help us to support members of Sing For Freedom Choir to continue to meet online, and enable us to offer the technical support, training and pastoral support they deserve. Your funding contributions: £5 - will fund data payments for one singer for one week and enable them to get online £15 - will fund a pair of headphones for one singer £20 - will provide one member with a digital training session £50 - will enable one choir member to participate in the video project for Zero Discrimination Day £150 - will enable a community support officer to provide once a week, vital pastoral support and signposting to our members £500 - will fund a bursary place for one choir member for one year
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How will the money be spent?Total £12,179
Costs Breakdown
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Overfunding
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Total £12,179
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VolunteerTogether Productions is a not for profit Community Interest Company creating positive social change through the arts. Our projects build connections, understanding and community cohesion by uniting diverse and marginalised groups to work with one another to create high quality artistic outcomes. We specialise in work that is participatory, non-hierarchical and that challenges existing orthodoxies and paradigms. We seek to bring together individuals, communities and organisations who would otherwise never meet and through creative collaborations we build empathy, understanding and awareness.
Since 2017 we have been running Singing Our Lives, a collaborative composition and performance project that brings together displaced people, asylum seekers and locally born communities to compose and perform new music together.
Our flagship choir, the Mixed Up Chorus is an innovative, non-auditioned, intergenerational and intercultural community choir. The choir sings a global repertoire and seeks projects and collaborations that celebrate difference and give voice to under-represented groups. Our newest choir, Sing For Freedom, comprises refugees and asylum seekers who are survivors of torture, along with Londoners who have joined to sing in solidarity with them. Members participate in weekly rehearsals and hold performances reaching audiences of over 2000 people per annum, in lockdown this has increased as we have reached online audiences.
During lockdown we have taken our work online, running virtual rehearsals & projects and pioneering digital concerts reaching audiences around the world. In the Summer of 2020 we worked with partners Musicians Without Borders, I Speak Music and the International Organization of Migration amongst others to produce the Imagine: Imagine project, involving hundreds of performers across 14 countries worldwide. This pioneering project resulted in a global music video and the establishment of new relationships and partnerships we are continuing to build.
Project Owner: Together Productions The Project Owner takes legal responsibility for receiving and spending the funds raised and ensuring the project is delivered.
