“Without community there is no liberation”
Audre Lorde
I believe that for real change to happen we need everyone, and that art and ideas are the fuel that drive change. My work as an artist extends beyond making solo and collaborative work to making work with others who might not see themselves as ‘musicians’ to make things together. I. believe that we all need creativity to survive, and it can be the tool to our collective liberation.
How do I do this?
As a part of my composition practise, I often create participative processes to bring in other voices to co-create pieces with me. In creating the music for the play A Child of Science, a play about the origins of IVF - I put together a choir of singers who all had some relationship to IVF, to help create the score.
I currently run a non-auditioned queer friendly choir in Nunhead, south-east London called South East London Queer Choir. Our books are closed but you can follow us here.
I work as a facilitator and organiser for grassroots groups who want a more just, peaceful world and a liveable planet. I use the principles of training for change which creates environments for learning and doing together that make us feel more able to use our power together to confront oppressive systems and build something better. My most recent work has been with Greenpeace helping build their speaker network.
I put on events like Shut Up and Play Festival and solidarity gigs to raise funds for grassroots activist groups like DPAC, the Outside Project and Strike funds.
I create resources, like this one, to help people do the hard work of changing themselves - in community - and so change the world.