First National Preventive Health Research Programme  YELP Holistic First Business Plan    YELP Holistic First Business Plan Defined Terms   SWOT Analysis   Executive Summary   Deliverables And Costs   Snapshot Page To 10 Benchmark Techniques   Defined Terms for Five YELP Business Plans

Second National Preventive Health Research Programme

First BTAAP Business Plan      Bohémian Teenagers Show Choir Programme        Defined Terms BTSCP

Second BTAAP Business Plan    Bohémian Teenagers Symphony Orchestras Programme    Defined Terms - Bohémian Teenager Symphony Orchestra Programme

Third BTAAP Business Plan    Bohémian Teenager Ballet & Modern Dance Programme        Defined Terms BTB&MDCP

Twenty Renowned Orchestras, Choirs, Theatre Companies And Workshops Which Have Successfully Targeted Homeless and Marginalised means:

(a)        Latin American country, Venezuela, has delivered, over the last 34 years The National Youth Orchestra System, colloquially known as El Sistema, successfully steering more than a million kids, many from slum areas, away from a life of drugs/crime, into the world of classical music, and conducted orchestral performances at esteemed concert halls which include the BBC Proms and The Lincoln Centre.  The fundamental tenet of El Sistema is not musical, but social.  The ABC documentary series Foreign Correspondent telecast Bravo! Encore! on 30 June 2009.

(b)        ABC production Choir of Hard Knocks, based on Sydney Street Choir of circa 2001, which drew upon the musical talents of Jonathon Welch to assemble a choir in Melbourne which morphed into the Melbourne Street Choir, Inc.

(c)        The Milk Crate Theatre, Surry Hills Sydney is Australia's only theatre company dedicated to working with people who have experienced homelessness and disadvantage.  First and foremost a community. It consist of creative individuals who come together to make entertaining, challenging and inspiring performances, whilst exploring issues, opinions and life experiences in the process. We are a direct partnership between professional actors, artists, welfare services and community participants, walking a line between professional theatre and community development.  Its Artistic Director is Mirra Todd.

(d)        Montreal's Accueil Bonneau Homeless choir which won accolades and hearts from its diverse repertoire from 'The Mamas and the Papas' California Dreamin' to Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" -- not just in Quebec but across Canada and worldwide -

  • recording six albums over a 6 year tenure,

  • performing more than 1,000 live concerts in cities as far away as Paris,

  • eventually disbanded due to the members elevating their orchestral skills and QOL.

(e)        Big Noise delivered by the organisation Sistema Scotland

 (f)        El Sistema USA - a visionary global movement to transform the lives of children through music. A new model for social change.

(g)        USA the VH1 Save The Music Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring instrumental music education in America's public schools, and raising awareness about the importance of music as part of each child's complete education.  Since 1997, the VH1 Save The Music Foundation has provided $45 million worth of new musical instruments to more than 1,700 public schools in more than 100 cities around the country, impacting the lives of more than 1.4 million public school students.

(h)        El Sistema New Brunswick, Canada youth orchestra.

 (i)        Green Valley Youth Choir from Sydney’s South Western suburbs is one of Western Sydney's noteworthy success stories.  First came together in October 1968. Today there is in excess of 30 active singers ranging in age from 9 to 19 years.  Since its inception 38 years ago, hundreds of young people have passed through its ranks.  Has performed with many top performers from both Australia & overseas, including the late Peter Allen, John Farnham, Julie Anthony, Kamahl & Marcia Hines. International acts include Mariah Carey & Noel Paul Stookey from folk royalty Peter Paul & Mary.  Internationally renowned with tours of New Zealand, Israel, Canada, England & the USA to its credit. GVYC has sung in many of the world’s cathedrals & church congregations.  In 2003 the choir were invited to return to the USA & Canada which culminated in 2 performances in Disneyland, & the California Adventure theme parks.  Plans were under way for a World Tour in June / July 2008 to mark GVYC’s 40th anniversary, with concerts already confirmed in Hong Kong, Europe, The USA & Canada.

 

(j)         Woden Valley Youth Choir was founded in 1969 and appeared before the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh on three occasions, sung for the Prime Minister many times, performed with the Australian Opera, with symphony orchestras, and at major concerts with international guest artists. One of the occasions that will remain as the highlight of their choir membership was singing at the ceremony for the conferring of the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws on Nelson Mandela in 2000.  WVYC has hosted many national and international choral groups and has revelled in the exchange of music and friendship with each of them.  WVYC has recorded four albums, a one hour television special and four CDs. Appears on 'Macca on Air - Songs from Australia All Over', and on the international Christmas CD, 'the Children's Gift' in company with the Vienna Boys Choir and other world renowned choirs. Undertaken six overseas tours, the most recent in 2006 to the USA.

(k)        The Australian Foundation for Disability ("AFFORD") is a not-for-profit organisation which provides day programs, skills development, transition to work training, supported and open employment, and accommodation for people with additional needs.  AFFORD provides support and respite enabling over 1,300 Disabled Australians to lead richer, more rewarding lives.  "WESTERN SYDNEY'S GOT TALENT" explains that AFFORD has, over recent years, enabled over 70 Disabled Australians from Western Sydney to sing and dance in an annual two hour Variety Show Spectacular at Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Penrith NSW.   The Department of Ageing Disability and Home Care (DADHC) provides funding of almost $8 million to help AFFORD run its programs.

(l)         Restless Dance Theatre of Sturt St, Adelaide, under Artistic Director, Philip Channells, is -           

            (a)        a leading Australian dance company working with young Disabled, Abled and Marginalised Australians to create dance theatre and run workshop programs;

            (b)        a place where dance is used as a mode of expression which allows people to speak eloquently to everyone;

            (c)        an integrated dance company where the art is made by young people with different skillsets for a diverse audience; and

            (d)        runs a core workshop series called Restless Central open to anyone aged 15 to 26 which employers dance instructors and collaborators, on a professional basis, to develop new performance routines for touring nationally and international - performs at least one major new performance routine each year.

(m)      The BiPolar Bears -

            (a)        is well known throughout Victoria for their high energy performances and high profile advocacy of mental health issues whose artistic director is Phil Heuzenroeder
;

            (b)        is part of the City of Port Phillip’s Access Arts program, designed to create arts participation opportunities for people living with a mental illness;

            (c)        have been playing for 15 years, making it one of Melbourne’s most stable rock groups;

            (d)        have played at Federation Square, the Sydney Opera House, Brisbane’s Powerhouse, Rockhampton, with the Choir of Hard Knocks on ABC radio, across country Victoria, St Kilda Festival, regularly at Club Wild’s discrimination-free dance party events, endless mental health events and recently a performance for inmates of the psychiatric ward at Port Phillip prison;

            (e)        have featured on radio, in print and on C31 TV over the years;

            (f)         play a wide ranging repertoire of original and covers songs, from rock to blues to punk and have released 2 CDs of original songs; and

            (g)        have collaborated with some Australian music industry greats, including Ross Hannaford (Daddy Cool) and Pete Satchell (Dallas Crane).

 

(n)        Club Wild, for people with a Disability in particular people with mental health issues, -

            (a)        runs workshops in song writing, music playing, dance, performance, music video making, video storytelling, animation, DJing, MCing, VJing, lighting, audio, stage management and event design and presentation;

            (b)        creates and trains rock bands, vocal groups, hip hop groups, DJ’s, MC’s, VJ’s, production and event teams;

            (c)        currently have projects running in North and South Melbourne, Craigieburn and South Morang in Melbourne, Australia; and

            (d)        supports a number of artists and bands including Heidi Everett and the Bipolar Bears

(o)       Social Infrastructure Lifestyle Programme notes that, under the National Australia Banks 'Schools First' Awards Program, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has taken carriage to tutor students at the Meadows Primary School (situated in a low socio-economic area of Melbourne) in classical music and string instrumental playing which is having a powerful impact on the children and especially their engagement with learning across all subjects. 

(p)        Carclew Youth Arts means South Australia’s only multi-artform and cultural organisation, formed in 1972, which is dedicated to artistic outcomes by and for people aged 26 and under;

(q)         "Switch" in Blacktown is a new dance project targeted at the underprivileged, as part of Comm4unity - Community off on a positive path; and

(r)         Kurruru Youth Performing Arts has been one of Australia’s leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth performing arts companies since its inception as Port Youth Theatre Workshop in 1984;

(s)        Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre (1976 - 1998) was a performing group of traditional and contemporary dance with its early promotional material stressing the modern Aboriginal/Islander identity;

(t)        The Deadly Dancers is a Indigenous Youth programme instigated by a community man, Dhinawan, which started at Brunswick Heads Public School when Dhinawan met the school staff and Principal Mr Channels to discuss a Coroboree Program for all the Indigenous students.  Ipso facto the Deadly Dancers was born!

In reviewing several of the above precedents, it is apparent that there is no shortage of "willing-takers" to learn and compete in 'The Performing Arts' across Australia in low socio economic regions.  What is missing is a foundation and a structure for "willing-takers" to compete against each other where an audience is assured.

Re (d) above, the fact that the Montreal's Accueil Bonneau Homeless choir ultimately disbanded "due to the members elevating their orchestral skills and QOL" is patent testimony to the scope of the BTSOP SPV to deliver its Six Functions to achieve the Seven Purposes of the Second BTAAP Business Plan whilst maintain an Orchestra Performance Focus.

 

Re (a) above, the below explains other countries which have adopted the Venezuela Model:

 

A BBC TV documentary programme in the Imagine arts series, first shown on 18 Nov 2008, examined the history and ethos of the Venezuela Model and its role in tackling the social problems of Venezuela and its success in transforming the lives of some of the nation's poorest children, including interviews with Gustavo Dudamel, key members of the orchestra, and current and former students.  Hosted by Alan Yentob, the film took a detailed look at the unique music education system of Venezuela, of which the orchestra is an integral part, and described the recent attempt to imitate its success in a deprived part of Scotland. 

 

Below are extracts from the article "Sistema Scotland Adopts Venezuelan Musical Miracle" which explain the programme, Big Noise, delivered by the organisation Sistema Scotland. 

The fundamental principle of El Sistema, which is that the main aims of Big Noise are not musical, but social.  “We use the orchestra as an engine for social change,” “If we produce great musicians then that will be great, but it’s not our principle purpose.  Existing children’s and youth orchestras do a great job producing excellent musicians.  We are not seeking to replace any of those or make them Sistema orchestras.  But we hope that the children we work with – children who would not previously have joined existing youth orchestras – will now do so after coming to music through Sistema.”  Furthermore, Sistema-inspired orchestras can work in more than one type of social circumstance.  “Wherever you go in the world, there will be communities suffering from feelings of exclusion, which lead to poor health, crime and substance abuse.  It might take some adapting to local circumstances, but we think a Sistema-like orchestra could play a big part in bringing about generational change in areas like that anywhere.  We could look at Sistema as being the regeneration that goes on inside people’s head, in order to match the regeneration that has gone on in the streets.”

The initial Big Noise youth orchestra is in Raploch, a community that is “comparatively at the bottom of the economic scale in Scotland,” ranked in 2004 as “one of the top 5% of areas of multiple deprivations in Scotland.”  The average income in Raploch is £6,240, and 22% of the community experiences incidents of the ‘Big 3’ (coronary heart disease, stroke and cancer).  “In our program,” says Killean, “over 50% of the children who attended the Summer School in 2008 came from families who were or had been involved with social services.”  Comparatively, deprivation in Scotland ranks nowhere near that found in Venezuela.  “Absolute poverty is worse in Venezuela where people live in shanty towns, may well have difficulty finding enough to eat, and where we know of children who have been shot on the way to orchestra practice.  Scotland is a typical post-industrial society, and while there is general prosperity, many urban areas suffer from depravation, crime, substance abuse, and poor health.” 

Generated by the instructors at Big Noise, the repertoire played by the children is primarily based upon fun songs and games.  As Killean explains, “the curriculum is progressive, so in nursery you may learn a song, walk it, sing it, clap it, and in Primary 1 you may also use this song, but progress in how you work with it.  Then, in the after-school programme, you will be learning how to play this song on the instruments.  All of the repertoire we use is pitched appropriately for both the children’s voices, and for beginning work on the open strings.”

With a budget provided by the Scottish Arts Council as well as numerous private donations, Big Noise hopes to start up orchestra centres in Glasgow and Aberdeen by 2013, bringing the total of Big Noise centres to three.  A good deal of support and inspiration has come from FESNOJIV (National System of Youth and Children Orchestras of Venezuela), who in their thirty-plus years of experience have demonstrated the value of orchestras as “engines for social change.”  Big Noise is in fact the UK representative for FESNOJIV.  Killean adds that they have “supported us with a good deal of information, and hosted visits where the organizers of Sistema Scotland and our musicians have been able to see and learn from El Sistema in action.  We are very proud that they have officially accepted us into the Sistema family.”  Further support has come from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and BBC Scotland, which is currently working on a documentary about the efforts being done at Big Noise.

See also “North American Counterparts:  El Sistema Inspires Projects in Ottawa & New York,”

The New England Conservatory Youth Philharmonic Orchestra under the acronym YPO seem to have partially adopted the Venezuela Model.

See  2005 Tour to Venezuela and Brazil,  YPO Auditions,  YPO Tour to Venezuela,  YPO Spring Concert,  Venezuela Orchestra and Stanley Drucker.

         See also Success Of Show Choirs In Motivating U.S. College Students.