A Big Thank You from Good Vibrations
Posted by Helper Worm on October 24th, 2008
A big thank you to everyone who contributed to the collection at the recent Royal Albert Hall gigs.
Bill’s fans raised a massive £3,682.10 which will greatly help towards the work of the charity in their Gamelan in Prisons Project.
Of the project, Bill says “I decided to include this charity in the Royal Albert Hall programme because I think it’s a fascinating and worthwhile project….and also because many aspects of it strike a personal chord with me.”
“I have a strong connection with Indonesia – I’ve travelled there for many years and during one of these visits I was taught the basics of gamelan and played with a gamelan orchestra. I’m drawn to the otherness of it, the strangeness and the fact that playing it is unlike any Western musical form. It ebbs and flows, has no real beginning or end, and while plating it I find the concentration required combined with the rippling sound is akin to meditation. It is relatively easy to start playing and get pleasing results, so I can see how it could provide a sense of achievement. I have also done stand-up gigs in prisons, and have seen how performance can have a positive effect.”
Good Vibrations Founder and Project Director Cathy Eastburn explained how the money would be used. “We will put the money towards three up-and-coming Good Vibrations projects (the host prisons also pay something towards the costs). These will be at Peterborough Prison (working with Vulnerable Prisoners), Low Newton prison near Durham (working with female prisoners) and another TBC. Each project will be a one-week, full-time intensive gamelan project with a group of between 15-20 prisoners. They will learn to play traditional Javanese gamelan music and also create their own compositions as a group, using the gamelan instruments. Each project will culminate in an informal performance in front of an audience.”
“By taking part in such a communal and accessible group activity, participants will develop crucial life skills such as team-working, communication, creative thinking, concentration and applying themselves. These are skills that many prisoners lack and which are absolutely vital: for getting and holding onto a job on release, for making positive friendships while in prison and making the most of their time there, and for successful family relationships.”
“For many participants, a Good Vibrations project is the first time in their lives they have succeeded at something and had a positive experience in a group setting, so the projects have a real impact on people’s self-confidence and motivation to go on to do other constructive things in prison (such as education courses, Offending Behaviour Programmes, getting a job in a workshop, and other arts courses). And the benefits will last – we are just about to publish an independent evaluation report of our work which shows that the benefits for participants are still very much in evidence at least 6 months after doing one of our projects.”
Good Vibrations is part of the Firebird Trust (a registered charity) and is funded by Arts Council England, the Linbury Trust, the LankellyChase Foundation, the Mercers’ Company, the Northmoor Trust, the Trusthouse Charitable Foundation, the Tudor Trust and the Worshipful Company of Musicians as well as by the host prisons themselves.
More information on the project can be found at www.firebirdtrust.co.uk/content/blogcategory/38/73/.
Thank you again for supporting this extremely worthy cause.