Reflections on the Musical Inclusion Gathering 23rd June
How do you encourage the elevation of what we do as Music Educators and programme co-ordinators?
Through shared learning and facilitation amongst some of the best minds in the country!
As part of my placement with Rhythmix I was able to attend the Musical Inclusion Gathering organised by Sound Sense on 23rd June at the beautiful Conway Hall. I had the chance to network, learning and reflect with some of the leading music educators in the UK and think about what lessons I can take back to Singapore.
Why was the day so effective?
What made the gathering so effective and thought provoking is the level and calibre of the organisations present who have a similar mindset. I've attend plenty of other conferences before and often because all the participants or organisations are at different levels and it's not the same intensity or at this speciality of skill set. A lot of the times participants/ organisations aren't also quite willing to share their shortcomings, downfalls of problems because of fear at being frowned upon.
Getting started
A quick breakfast and introduction by the Sound Sense team and we were on our way to our first ice-breaker : Partner. I tend to not like these 'games' in general but the more I do them I realised it's a really good way to practise fluid intelligence and to prepare ourselves when we need to make that 'elevator' pitch, or have the clarity and calmness in describing what we do and what we need when meeting that all important 'stakeholder'.
The main things I picked up from the initial sharing session was that there is a lot of work that needs to be done on creating and sustaining these projects in terms of CYP (Children and Young People) participation levels, project management, matchmaking of CYP to projects, venue, tutors and suitability of venues. None of this can be done without thought given to the importance of creating a progressive environment for the CYP to be engaged and developed as well as progression routes for CYP and tutors.
On a more personal learning note, I became aware of the importance of how good facilitating can make these sessions into a great experience for all and I think it's something that's lacking a little back home that I'll be looking to work on!
Breakout sessions
After lunch we signed up for breakout topics, there were quite a few topics that really piqued my interest but unfortunately I could only pick two.
Progression:
A fantastic facilitation/presentation by Paul Weston (The Garage Trust),who really flipped the topic on his head by changing the way me and most of the participants felt about progression routes. It's not about a linear progression path but rather thinking about the progression environment the CYP is in and how it best suits their situation. So often it seems easier to think of a linear path and many practitioners and leaders still think that way but looking at it from a wider environment point of view has much more to offer with more benefits in the long run.
Best resource to look at this topic - check out Good Questions http://good-questions.net/
Advocacy:
Led by the Youth Music team, this was a very important session to learn about how to find, seek out and convince your stakeholders of your cause. Much was discussed about how to find and identify stakeholders at the right level and making sure that all those involved were kept satisfied.
Top tips included:
-being able to give value and recognition to the stakeholders -being visible with the work (online and offline) -finding connections with the right people and doing the appropriate level of research to understand what they are really passionate or concerned about. -empowering others to advocate on your behalf if they are closer to the work than you -the need to show a strong track record and understand the stakeholder's language, world and their thought process. -creating an irresistible carrot -being clear with your key messages and mission -have due diligence in finding the correct evidence and partnering it up with the right emotional message and angle to develop a compelling pitch.
Requests, hopes and recommendations If anything, I would love for there have been more breakout sessions - there were so many fantastic topics I wanted to learn about!
I would love to know more about what the future brings for all the organisations or their thoughts on moving forward as it is truly a rare opportunity to have so many great minds under one roof.
Lastly I really look forward to seeing all the presentation notes that will be shared in due course with all the organisations and/or developed as toolkits to better our craft and benefit the community.
Truly an eye-opening and wonderful experience.