All That Jazz - Devon Music Lovers Play On Thanks To Lottery Grant
03.06.2008 17:59:00
Devon music lovers can take part in jazz and funk workshops and attend a special concert for free with the help of an Awards for All grant of £9,050. The project is one of six to receive funding in Devon. Altogether 69 South West groups have been awarded funding totalling £457,114 in the latest round.
The Music Performance Education Group will use its £9,050 grant to run workshops in jazz, funk and African music for up to sixty people before staging a showcase on 12 July in St Cuthbert Mayne School in Torquay. The concert will begin at 7.30pm and will feature renowned jazz pianist Mike Westbrook playing alongside the group’s students. The Music Performance Education Group (MUSICPEG) is a not for profit organisation committed to providing opportunities for musicians of all ages to develop their musical performance skills.
Pat Haggerty, co-founder, said: “We’re committed to giving people the chance to develop their musical skills through actually performing and so we try to arrange gigs and jam sessions whenever we can, to give fledgling performers that opportunity. We’re also committed to getting people of all generations involved in this way, and we’ve got members ranging from the ages of 11 to 70 years old.
“We’ll be running two lots of ten-week courses up until around a week before the day-long workshop and concert on 12 July, with one group studying jazz and funk, and the other focusing on African music. As we’re holding the showcase in the school, we’ll include school bands too and give them a chance to perform for parents and friends. The final part of the concert will feature Mike Westbrook, who is a national figure in jazz music, playing alongside our two workshop bands. From then on we’ll continue to run a series of ten-week courses that culminate in a big band concert, with the next set starting in September. For us, it’s a chance to help musicians in the area, but also to have a larger number of people see the kind of work we do, and to encourage them to get involved.”
Another project receiving funding this month is Stacked Wonky Dance Company, who will receive a grant of £7,069 to run a dance project for boys in North Devon. The project will involve workshops in contemporary dance, set design and sound composition and will culminate in three hour-long performances. Stacked Wonky is a contemporary dance company that produces work in unusual places for audiences typically unfamiliar with the genre.
Other projects in Devon awarded funding are Hatherleigh Sports Field Management Committee, who received £7,000 to improve double tennis courts, Age Concern Torbay, given £4,663 for a careline service for older people, Mill Water School, set to spend a £10,000 grant on residential visits for special needs students and The Dartmoor Society, awarded £4,429 to stage a Festival of Literature in Tavistock.
Awards for All is the small grants scheme administered by the Big Lottery Fund on behalf of Lottery good cause funders, Arts Council England, Big Lottery Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund and Sport England. The scheme makes awards of between £300 and £10,000 to grass-roots community groups and voluntary organisations.
Mark Cotton, Big Lottery Fund Head of the South West region, said on behalf of Awards for All: “Half a dozen projects in the Devon area were able to successfully to apply for funding this month, including fantastic arts initiatives such as The Music Performance Education Group. To see close to half a million pounds worth of funding be funnelled into the South West is simply fantastic.”
Client name: The Big Lottery Fund
Business type: Consumer
Author: Hannah Roberts
Contact author: hannah@montagecomms.com
Web link: www.awardsforall.org.uk
