To research socially-engaged orchestral and operatic models to run projects in Australia

Described by Vic McEwan as the meeting of ethics and aesthetics, socially-engaged art connects professional artists with communities for interaction and collaboration. Australia has a wealth of classical music organisations, from professional institutions to amateur, community and youth ensembles. However, one kind of ensemble is less conspicuous: those formed with an extra-musical purpose, whether it’s for social justice, social cohesion, or some other kind of public good. The choral world, which is where I have made my professional home for the past twenty years, has much more to offer in this regard. Yet Europe and America both offer a rich array of project-based ensembles dedicated to using classical music as the vehicle through which they seek to engineer some kind of social change, or amplify a social message.

Report Summary

My Churchill Fellowship project was born out of my experience organising a volunteer pop-up orchestra and choir to perform Handel’s Messiah in the foyer of a local oncology hospital. The passion, dedication and desire to repeat the experience on the part of so many of the volunteer musicians led me to consider how I could offer more: more regular performances, to more Australians, using more artists. The desire to give, especially in the face of disaster — whether the personal disaster of a cancer diagnosis, or the collective disaster of flood or fire — seems a common human response to the helplessness such uncontrollable and unpredictable experiences create. Our usual recourse is giving money, but not everyone has money to give. A project orchestra is a meaningful way people can give their time and their specific skills, using their particular expertise and passion.

I visited organisations in Europe and the USA which have all been created, often by one person, for an extra-musical purpose, and learned about First Nations engagement in classical music at the Santa Fe Opera. From these organisations, I learned the key elements that have enabled both their survival and their success:

• a clear and compelling vision
• prioritising excellence
• ‘doing, not showing’: maximising participation opportunities
• developing strong personal connections
• maintaining clear boundaries between art and therapy
• offering a better welcome into the artform, and better, more connected pathways

In addition, I received a wealth of advice on operational matters such as funding, governance, organisational structure, using volunteers, marketing, and risk management. While my findings will have practical applications for my own creation of a project-based ensemble designed to connect musicians with Australians undergoing stress, findings in my report will also be of use to arts organisation or artists interested in the following areas:

1. community engagement
2. First Nations engagement
3. arts and health
4. founding an orchestra
5. socially-engaged arts practice.