Guildhall School of Music & Drama - Connect
Between 2002 and 2004, the hub worked with Guildhall School of Music & Drama to devise, develop and manage its ground-breaking education programme, called Connect.
The programme runs across London Boroughs of Lewisham and Newham since January 2002, and to date has provided around 1000 young people with opportunities to make music in a variety of settings, including creative music workshops (instrumental and non-instrumental), Connect ensembles, smaller bands and singing groups. Through these activities, showcases, major holiday projects and a series of conferences, Connect has begun to inform the Guildhall’s development of a strategic plan for an innovative ‘virtual network’ of best practice in creative music-making, involving professional musicians, young people, music students in Higher Education and teachers.
Connect has been recognised by Youth Music as a model for best practice and has begun to contribute to, and inform, the national music education landscape.
the hub played an integral role in Connect - from raising initial funds and brokering partnerships in Newham and Lewisham to advising GSMD on the strategic development of the project and managing every aspect of the project on a day to day basis. In 2004, following the hub’s recommendations, GSMD appointed an in-house project manager for the programme, something which signified the increasing importance of this work to the School, and its repositioning as an integral part of its work.
‘Thank you for doing such fantastic work. I can’t even begin to express in words how special it is to have such an exciting and groundbreaking project with the hub at the helm! […] It leaves you in no doubt that we are sitting on something that is unique and still full of potential.’
Sean Gregory, Head of Professional Development, Guildhall School of Music and Drama
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