Lifesize: Looking back at our first year of project delivery; The beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic, support from Arts Council England and accessing creative training

We had only just got our project work underway when the pandemic hit the UK. We are very grateful to Arts Council England who provided us with an emergency grant during 2020. It enabled us to access various training and properly develop an online model of delivery. Looking back now after such a long period of having adapted and run our provision as a successful online model, it is interesting to think back to when it was a completely new reality.

Some of the training we attended was very inspirational when looking for ways to work online. Like most people trying to adapt we had started to find our way around platforms like Zoom, Skype, and Microsoft teams. The workshops really helped us think about how we might integrate music software platforms into our online model and devise a way of working with our clients that was interactive and adaptable.

We were able to see first hand the methods and approaches of experts in a variety of fields including more leftfield approaches to sound and music such as field recording and soundscape making using Ableton, exploring the possibilities of sound synthesis with max (a digital modular synthesis platform), exploring folk music in online workshops, CPD for music in dementia care settings, and various other training workshops based around creative practice. We also found several workshops that were being offered to support people like ourselves to develop core communication strategies using platforms like zoom, exploring good practice with regards to policies that would need updating in light of new ways of working. It seems there was a great amount of goodwill and support around this time from individuals, organisations, and funders. We would like to thank and recommend the following organisations who particularly helped us on this part of our journey with funding and training at the start of the pandemic: The Chalk cliff foundation, Arts Council England, The National Lottery Community Fund, Sussex Community Foundation, Nymaz, Growbiz Scotland, Mutant Promise @ Somerset house, digital culture network (ACE), Bela Emerson @ Goldsmiths University, Tesco Bags of Help and Hastings Lions.