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Superhero success!
Over 380 people took part at The Squidz Club on Friday 18 March. The theme for the evening was superheroes and everyone made a great effort dressing up as their favourite one. The Fish Police drew in big crowds for their performance and even got an invitation to perform in Ireland later this year (more details in the Training and Taking Part section). The Do Your Own Thing Groups also entertained the audience with their fantastic performances. See photos from the evening here. |
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Lizzie on the go!
Lizzie Emeh has had a packed diary. She performed at two Valuing People Now conferences and visited Spare Tyre Theatre Company and Clean Break to talk to students about her career. She’s also fitted in time to do some songwriting with Angus Babb as she works towards her second album. Read Lizzie’s myspace blog here.
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Stars in their eyes
Heart n Soul artists got the chance to mix with celebrities when they performed at the Brook Awards. Dean Rodney, Kali Perkins, Charles Stuart and Mark Williams performed songs by Heart n Soul co-founder Pino Frumiento in front of a packed audience. They also got the chance to meet pop heartthrobs JLS. Kali said: "It was fantastic, I loved performing. Meeting JLS was great too." See more photos of the night on our Flickr page here. |
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Dean Rodney Singers
Dean’s vision of a band made up of artists from seven countries from across the world is really coming together. There have been meetings with Unthinkable Consulting, New Music Strategies and Sound and Music. We have also made contact with a number of artists including Station 17 from Germany, Afro Reggae from Brazil and respected electronic musician Neebing from China. Dean has also put the finishing touches to the project theme tune. Listen to a clip here. |
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Behind the scenes
Have you ever wondered what happens behind the scenes at Heart n Soul? Well now you can see for yourself as we’ve just launched our Posterous blogging website. Throughout the year our artists will be keeping you up to date with what they’re working on and will be posting photos, films and audio clips of themselves hard at work. You can join in the conversation too and let them know what you think. Visit the website here. |
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DJ Stewart does his thing
A great DJ gets the party started and keeps the audience on the dancefloor. That’s what Stewart Bush did when he DJed at Laban’s Co-Motion dance event for young people last week. It was the second year in a row that Stewart had DJed at the event. He said: "I had a nice time. Everyone was really friendly and seemed to enjoy the music." Find out what else Stewart’s been up to this month here. |
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Media Team at work
The Media Team always have an eye for a good story and continued planning for the London 2012 Paralympic Games. The team learned more about wheelchair rugby and interviewed Paul Morgan, editor of Rugby World as part of their research. |
| He was so impressed by the team, that he has invited them to visit the magazine’s offices in Central London. Paul said: "I was so pleased to get the chance to chat to the Media Team! They are terrific, some potential stars in there!" |
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Looking ahead
The team also finished learning about reporting and presenting stories with communications company Poached Creative. They are now starting to plan what projects they will be making for Heart n Soul. Read the Media Team blog here. |
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Friends from Galway
Our friends from Arts and Disability Ireland and the Soundscape Project visited The Squidz Club in March. They run Club Tropicana in Galway. The club was inspired by the Barracuda Club in Northern Ireland, which Heart n Soul helped set up in 2009. They came to the club as they wanted to see how we work. By the end of the evening they had also invited The Fish Police to perform at their club.
Leah Johnston, Project Manager for Arts &
Disability Ireland said: "We really enjoyed both
the tour of Heart n Soul and The Squidz Club. We danced, played, dressed up and danced some more! Congratulations on running such a wonderful event and we’ve come home inspired and excited!" |
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Ride ’em Cowboy!
The Young People’s Steering Team have done it again, they’ve come up with a fantastic theme for the next Squidz Club taking place on Friday 20 May – the Wild West! Cowboys, Indians… it should be great fun! Save the date now and find more details about the club and our age policy here. |
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Stars of the night
The Do Your Own Thing groups really threw themselves into the superhero theme for March’s Squidz Club. The VJs created mini films for the café and main space, the music group renamed themselves The D Team and performed superhero inspired songs and the drama group created a superhero bootcamp. The dance group also tried new ways of performing, popping up in surprising places across the whole club.
Aldean Blair (left), peer mentor and Do Your Own Thing music participant said: "When I dressed up as a superhero, I really felt like one! I loved The
D Team, it was a brilliant experience working together." See the VJs mini films here. |
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Get involved!
Would you like to volunteer at Heart n Soul? We’re always looking for people to get involved, especially at our clubs and taking part sessions. Read what new volunteer Rosie Devine has to say about the experience here. |
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Arts Council funding success!
We are delighted to say that we will continue to be funded by Arts Council England for the next three years. We will receive £257,901 from Arts Council England in 2011-12 and 2012-13 and this will increase to £270,692 by 2014-15. |
| Mark Williams said: "We are very aware that it has been difficult for many colleagues in the arts world whose organisations have received news of cuts to their funding. At Heart n Soul we are relieved to know that we will be able to carry on with our work and thank the Arts Council for their continued support." |
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Meet Hazel and Rachel
Meet Hazel Northwood and Rachel Parslew. They will be helping Heart n Soul to fundraise for some of our big upcoming projects. They are both highly respected fundraisers and consultants within the arts industry and we welcome them onboard. |
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It’s a girl!
Great news! Clare Thomas, our Deputy Chief Executive, has given birth to a baby girl called Sylvie. Mum, dad and baby are well and we send them all our best wishes. |
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Numbers at a glance:
1671 people who visited the Heart n Soul website
42 days until the next Squidz Club!
252 friends we have on Facebook. We’re always looking for more so just login and visit us here.
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Dates for your diary
Friday 20 May – The Squidz Club
Find more club events coming up in London here.
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Thank you for reading our newsletter. If you have anything you would like to say about it, drop us a line here.
