Putting the 'community' into Community Music: a weekender to celebrate our area's talent
- Modelski Music
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Music is good for us – it’s a fact. Listening to music can reduce anxiety, improve sleep quality and lower blood pressure, whilst the neurological, physical and social benefits of participating in musical activities are well documented. Yet government funding for the arts, in both the public domain and within education, is diminishing by the year – threatening to make the world of music an elitist space for those who can afford the ever-increasing costs involved with learning to play, or even simply owning the necessary equipment.
Thankfully, in every corner of this country, amateur music organisations are fighting to keep music accessible to all, despite the perennial financial struggles they face. There’s no better place to illustrate this than the Chester area, where each week, hundreds of musicians – ranging from complete beginners to semi-professionals - come together at their respective ensembles to make music and enjoy being a part of a vibrant social scene.
Modelski Music are lucky to be home to such a wonderful community of musicians and we are hugely proud of our ensembles and their achievements. But we know we're not the only ones, and that's why we want to bring everyone together to celebrate this - and encourage others to join or support our community.
And so, in conjunction with our fantastic friends at ORB Sound & Lighting, we've been busy hatching a rather large plan...
Introducing Chester Community Music Festival: a two-day event in Grosvenor Park, Chester aiming to promote the growth of amateur music in our area through a celebration of the diverse musical talents and community spirit of our ensembles. The event will be free to attend and to participate in, and will feature performances across the weekend on a big stage from numerous bands, orchestras and choirs presenting music from a huge range of genres. We hope to attract in excess of 1000 visitors to the festival across the weekend, which provides our musicians a huge platform upon which to both showcase their talents and help to raise the profile of community music making in our area.
We have been well supported on our journey so far and have already secured some great financial support; however, we still have a short way to go to hit our funding target before we are able to press the green button. We have just submitted our proposal to the council's Shared Prosperity Fund for consideration and expect their decision in early March; one of the stipulations for consideration for a grant is that the project must also receive the backing of 50 members of the community before the end of February to ensure it is 'wanted' - otherwise we will not qualify for their funding.
So... this is where we reach out to our wonderful community for a little help.
We would be eternally grateful if any of you (or your friends, family, neighbours, colleagues...) could spare a fiver (or anything you can!) to pledge towards our campaign and get our numbers where they need to be. If the project does not go ahead for any reason, your monies will be returned - making it a risk-free investment! You can even pledge your support anonymously. The more backers we have, the better it looks for our campaign so in true Modelski style we'd love to aim for 100 names to really send a message to those in power to support our event!
If you are able to help, you can do so by visiting our crowdfunding page here:
Please note that the monetary target shown is the total proposed cost of the project: we are already a good way towards meeting this, but are unable to disclose our other funding partners or their pledged amounts on this platform.
Keep your eyes on our socials for updates!
Comments