WHAT MATTERS TO US

OUR PRINCIPLES

SOME VOICES is about the joy of singing, community, and bringing people together for shared experiences.

We believe that singing is for everyone so our main choirs are non-audition and open to all. We celebrate the individual and one of our values is inclusiveness. We do not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, gender, sexuality or disability.

Following the Black Lives Matter movement we identified the need to have more voices represented and expertise to help us as we develop our practices. We’re now aware that we haven't always got it right, so are actively changing how we work to ensure we're embedding Access, Diversity & Inclusion into every aspect of Some Voices.

We’re doing this by focusing on 3 main points:

Community: no one should face barriers to experiencing the joy of singing. We want to engage with a wider range of people in and around the communities where we sing.
Accessibility: making sure that Some Voices really works for everyone. We want a choir which is accessible, equitable and inclusive and gives people from all backgrounds the support they need to be able to fully enjoy our music whether as a performer or as an audience member.
Diversity: We are making a commitment and plan to improve representation in our entire team and to seek out and engage with those who are not yet part of what we do.

NB: What we really mean

When we say ‘diversity’ we mean everything that makes us unique. And in this context specifically, within categories protected by UK law.

Here are a few things we have done so far:

Formed an Inclusion Advisory Group (IAG): we identified the need to have more voices represented and expertise to help us as we develop our practices. We are now actively working on advice given in the IAG meetings.
Distributed a (voluntary) Equality and Diversity Survey in order to analyse and identify where we need to make changes.
Made our digital communications more universally accessible
Re-framed our zero tolerance of harassment and bullying and provided clearer steps to report such behaviour.
Created an Action Plan to provide context to Some Voices EDI work. Please click on the button below to open our Action Plan.

ACTION PLAN

If you have any questions or suggestions for the work we are doing, please contact our General Manager on her email address chloe@somevoices.co.uk

INCLUSION ADVISORY GROUP

“The IAG is already a really special place; we listen to each other intently and there seems to be a true respect for everyone’s experience and contribution. We’ve all got very different perspectives and I think that’s going to make us a strong and effective team.”

— Chloe Green, IAG member - 2020/2021

chloe Green

Chloe joined Some Voices in 2013 and has been singing with the choir on and off since then. By day she's a copywriter and political consultant, working in the charity sector and the Labour movement; by night she's a comedy promoter and performer, and runs LGBTQ+ comedy collective The LOL Word. Chloe has a particular interest and experience of creating spaces for queer people, but she's thrilled to be joining the IAG to learn from the experience of others.

MELANIE DUPIN

Melanie has over ten years’ experience working in mental health and disability, with specialism in supporting young people’s rights to equality and positive wellbeing. She leads work to tackle bullying, harassment and discrimination in Higher Education. She has been singing with Some Voices for two years, and brings her experience and passion to ensure that choir is truly inclusive for all.

stephen mulley

Steve is a Dance Movement Psychotherapist and an Occupational Therapist. He has worked in health-care settings for his whole career, including mental health, family, and relationship services. He has also worked with various voluntary agencies and charities, including those supporting LGBTQ+ communities.

“I get super excited about talking and thinking with people about how to make the world around us a more open, welcoming, kind, caring and ultimately loving place. So I was naturally excited to take up this opportunity to be part of a group of thoughtful and experienced people who are working to make Some Voices, my beloved Some Voices, even more open, vibrant, and loving. Despite being in its early stages, the IAG is already exceeding my expectations and my hopes, and has already started to make a difference.”

— Steve Mulley, IAG member - 2020/2021

charlotte hussey

Pronouns: She/her. Charlotte is driven by a desire for social justice and equity and has over two years’ experience of working in the Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) team at the Wellcome Trust, the largest charitable foundation in the UK. She has been singing with Some Voices for the past 4 years and is really excited to be able to contribute her passion for D&I to an organisation which has given her a real sense of belonging in London.

jessica murphy

Jessica lives with 6 disabilities and 6 long term health conditions, and is keen to share her lived experience and knowledge with Some Voices to help create a more inclusive organisation. She has 20 experience in the public sector, where she works to raise awareness, understanding and better support of intersectional people who have multiple protected characteristics. She also is a network leader for Shine Cancer Support, and mentors people from BAME backgrounds.

liz went

Liz (she/they) is a curator/art historian who works with young people from a wide variety of backgrounds, focusing on access and inclusion in the art world. She is involved in various LBGTQIA2S+, disability, and feminist collectives, and is interested in concepts of tranformative and restorative justice. She's Canadian, a proud member of SV Peckham, and definitely wants to see a picture of your cat/dog/hamster/bird/animal pal.

Patricia+Forrester+-+Some+Voices+Choir+Inclusion+Advisory+Group

patricia kenneally-forrester

Patricia is currently a middle leader in a very large Secondary School with responsibilities for mentoring the next generation of teachers and pupils many of whom have diverse needs and have protected characteristics.
Prior to this, Patricia gained over 30 years’ experience working as an Advisor to Arts Council funded Visual and Performing Arts Organisations on audience development, inclusion, marketing initiatives and on projects which embraced and promoted ‘arts for all’. As a Consultant, Lecturer and Fair Play Ambassador, Patricia has been working with, and for, various leading Public and Private Sector businesses, educational institutions, leisure & creative industry organisations to create targeted corporate communications for diverse audiences.

“I am happy to be able to share personal and professional work-related experiences to benefit the future direction of Some Voices, while I indulge my passion in singing. I would like to be part of a group welcoming people of diverse backgrounds, like myself, to feel encouraged to be part of this phenomenal choir.”

— Patricia Kenneally-Forrester, IAG member - 2020/2021

CHARITIES WE HAVE SUPPORTED

Every term, Some Voices members are asked to nominate a charity that means something to them. One charity per term is chosen and the choir works together to raise money for that organisation. This includes social events, quizzes, raffles, art prints and fundraising at our end of term performances all of which has helped us raise over £46,000 over the past 5 years.

Here are some of the other charities we are proud to have supported in the past.

In Spring and Summer 2023, we supported the National Youth Arts Trust in memory of much-loved, long-standing choir member, Martin Meadows-Evans, who sadly passed away in December 2022. This was a charity that meant a lot to Martin and their mission to make performing arts more inclusive and accessible to all really aligns with what we do here at Some Voices.

The NYAT is a performing arts charity that widens access to the arts for young people from low-income backgrounds – through giving bursaries for music, dance, and drama lessons, running youth theatre projects, and taking children to the theatre, often for the first time. Find out more about the NYAT here: https://nationalyouthartstrust.org.uk/

Through the efforts of our wonderful members including organising a quiz and raffle, Sunnie’s wonderful prints and our lovely audiences who donated at our Electric Dreams and Good Vibes Only performances, we raised £3,181.

“We are so honoured to be part of Martin’s legacy - we are a really small charity, and it makes such a difference to our student’s education to keep our bursary scheme and projects running, especially after the past few years. ”

— Ruth O’Brien, Director of Operations at NYAT

The Trussell Trust

Some Voices members nominated The Trussell Trust as our charity for Winter 2022 and fundraised with a quiz, bespoke poster sale and by appealing to audiences at our “Choir Actually” shows to donate, resulting in an incredible £4,455 raised for the charity.

The Trussell Trust supports a nationwide network of food banks, and together they provide emergency food and support to people locked in poverty. The Trust also campaigns for real change to end the need for food banks in this country and help food banks to provide practical support to tackle the root causes of poverty.

The Some Voices team thanks everyone who donated and helped to raise such a fantastic amount for this important cause. Particular thanks to Sunnie Newby at Studio A design for the wonderful bespoke art prints and to Steve Mulley, Katy Star and Jane Laurie for organising another wonderful quiz.

““Thank you all for the kind donations in support of the Trussell Trust. This year has been a really tough one for households on low incomes.

But your kindness makes all the difference and helps us to reach more people than ever in their time of need. Your generosity will help get urgent support to individuals and families facing impossible decisions this winter and will help us to push for change that will prevent more people facing those decisions in the future.

Thank you again to everyone at Some Voices for your kindness and generosity.” ”

— Supporter Care Team, The Trussell Trust

Over The Wall

In Spring 2022, Some Voices chose to fundraise for children’s charity Over The Wall. Sharing the same sense of fun and mischief, Over The Wall is a charity that helps children and their families reach beyond the boundaries of serious illness to discover a world of magic and new possibilities, through their free activity camps. Members raised over £1,000 with charity prints and collections at our performances.

Save+Our+Venues.jpg — The Save Our Venues Campaign

In Spring 2021, when so many live music venues were under threat of closure due to the pandemic, Some Voices decided to raise funds for the Save Our Venues campaign, and particularly one of our favourite London venues, the Clapham Grand.
Through a virtual quiz and poster sale, we were able to raise £1,500 for the campaign. Support the campaign.

““We are very excited and grateful that you have selected SLCT to support. Racism, discrimination and under-representation cannot be fixed by short-term outrage. With your support, together we can create a society in which everyone is seen and treated equally. Thank you for standing with us.” ”

— The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust

Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM)

In Spring 2020, COVID19 meant we had to move our rehearsals and performance online. We premiered SOCIAL DISTANT SING on 6th May and received donations from our audience and choir of £3,000 for CALM. Find out more about CALM.

The Prince’s Trust

In Dec 19, our Top of Your Pops gig at London’s Troxy raised over £6,000 for the Prince’s Trust, thanks to our generous audience and choir members who also hosted a 90s quiz. Find out more about The Prince’s Trust.

bloddy+good+period.jpg — Bloody Good Period

In July 19, we raised over £4500 for Bloody Good Period at our Surround Sounds gig in Hammersmith. Thanks to our fundraising team, audiences and amazing volunteers .
Blood Good Period give period products to those who can’t afford them, and provide menstrual education to those less likely to access it. And help everybody talk about periods. Find out more.

““As a small charity all funds matter and help us continue all that we do and to do more to support more young adults so that no one is alone coping with a diagnosis, treatment and afterwards. This amount you’ve raised is our highest ever, will help us so much in all that we do and make a difference to the lives of the many people we support.””

— Shine Cancer Support