Music For Change (guest blog post for A New Direction)

We wrote a guest-blog post for the arts and education organisation A New Direction (A.N.D.) who has set up the Cultural Education Challenge, which is a fund designed to help programmes which encourage young people's engagement with culture in London.

Creative Futures being part of this scheme was featured in a guest-blog post which we have copied in full below, however, if you wish to read the original post published by A.N.D. then please click here.

Cultural Education Challenge catch up with Creative Futures

Julian Knight and Rimi Solloway from Creative Futures tell us how their Music For Change project is helping to broaden the horizons of early years children.

On 1st March 2016 we held a free interactive classical concert for under 5's called 'Spectacular Strings'. The concert took place across one children’s centre and one community centre in north Westminster, and formed part of our Cultural Education Challenge project, 'Music For Change.' Pupils from several of the local nurseries in which Music for Change is taking place attended, as well as local families with young children.

There was a lively yet attentive atmosphere in the hall of the Beethoven Community Centre where the larger of the two performances of Spectacular Strings took place. The children all sat together on a large picnic style mat directly in front of the classical musicians, and both the children and adults encircled the artists - giving the concert a friendly and dramatic atmosphere. When the string quartet began to play, their instruments were up-close, loud, and engaging for the whole audience.

Performing at Spectacular Strings were the Alauda Quartet. Formed in 2011, the members are all former students at the Royal Academy of Music and have performed at concerts and festivals around the world. The four performers - made up of Cristina Prats-Costa (first violin), Milan Berginc (second violin), Rhoslyn Lawton (viola), and Elena Cappelletti (cello) - were delighted to have the opportunity to bring their music to an audience of under 5's who were all extremely excited to see and hear them play. For many of them, this was their very first concert!