One year on: Regional Producer - Midlands
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Our Regional Producer for the Midlands, Sooree Pillay, reflects on her first year working for Orchestras Live and the strategy behind our work in the Midlands.
The rich and diverse culture of the Midlands is only part of what makes it so special. It was a key site of the industrial revolution, a place that has become home to families from across the globe (Leicester celebrates one of the largest Diwali gatherings outside of India), and of course not forgetting the legend of Robin Hood. It is also known for its former mining villages and brutal upheavals to the lives of those communities, as well as riots in Handsworth, Birmingham in the 1980s. More recently it hit the headlines as one of the sites where the "red wall turned blue” in the 2019 General Election. A great deal has happened here over the years.
Highly densely-populated cities, such as Birmingham, are coupled with rural sites of outstanding beauty (and famous spring water) like Buxton. Transport links in these more remote places are inadequate. With the so-called “Levelling-up agenda” came a glimmer of hope for some forgotten places still dealing with high levels of unemployment, lack of provision and generally suffering from social disadvantages.
For many years it was home to thinkers such as cultural theorist, the late Professor Stuart Hall at the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, and inspired writers such as DH Lawrence and JRR Tolkien. The arts scene is exciting with a plethora of highly skilled practitioners, and orchestrally-speaking resources are rich: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), Orchestra of the Swan, Sinfonia Viva and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) are all based here.
Bolsover District Council and Music in The Round deliver a project with a focus on community placemaking through orchestral engagement in Doe Lea, Derbyshire
Our work in the Midlands
Orchestras Live has many long-standing partnerships in the Midlands - a robust foundation to build on one might say. This said, in an environment where the cost of living is soaring, war and suffering continues in Ukraine, and with Covid-19 still very much present in our lives, to mention just a few challenges, 2022 is an uncertain time. While the task is not made easier, the resolve in the arts sector to provide inspirational creative experiences which enrich people’s lives is even greater, as borne out by the myriad of projects, concerts and festivals on offer.
For the Midlands and the work of Orchestras Live, an important part of connecting people is celebrating diverse culture, improving provision for people living in rural and under-served parts of the region and providing opportunities for skills development for young people and in the workforce. Taking advantage of the rich programme of orchestral concerts available in the cities and making them accessible to more people is crucial, and the coming months will connect these inspiring orchestral experiences with wider project work. Themed work which offers a safe creative space for participants to engage with contemporary issues which are relevant to their lives and developing cross-artform and cross-genre projects, have the potential to unlock and open the door to orchestral music for many who have been excluded from this world for too long. It goes without saying, and even more so now, that none of this could be achieved without working closely in partnership, with co-design and delivery at the heart of our collective approach.
Over the last 12 months, I have visited partners across the region, traversing winding paths, beautiful villages, rolling hills, as well as vibrant streets in the heart of cities where the pulse beats strongly, ever evolving with the shifting cultural landscape. In doing so, I was able to learn more about this incredible place and experience the projects that my predecessors at Orchestras Live have put in my care. As I approach my first year as Regional Producer, Midlands, I feel fortunate to inherit this legacy, and excited to work further with my colleagues to bring our plans to fruition in the next years ahead.
