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2023 Pillars of Light festival

On the 8th of December, members from our choirs all across Melbourne came together to perform at the Pillars of Light festival in Federation Square. Pillars of Light is an inclusive, multicultural celebration of Hanukkah.

The joint choirs were led by our conductors Kym Dillon (WOV Geelong & Ashburton), Elly McKinnon (WOV Sunbury), and Lady Shaula (WOV Bayswater). Thank you to the Pillars of Light team for having us back for another year, and thank you to all the members who came along and helped make such a great performance!

Cranlana fundraising dinner

On November 21st, the Creativity Australia team, alongside our founder Tania de Jong AM and lead patron Peter Hunt AM, were thrilled to hold our annual fundraising event at Cranlana. Choir members from our Melbourne, St Kilda, Whitehorse, and Greater Dandenong choirs came together to put on a spectacular performance, led by Daniel Brinsmead and Chris Blain. The event was attended by some very generous donors who came along to learn about the With One Voice program and support our communities across Australia.

We would like to give a huge thank-you to Marigold Southey AC for opening her wonderful home to us and hosting this event. Thank you to all the donors who came along and gave so generously, and to our choir members and conductors for their hard work preparing their performance. We look forward to returning next year.

Inside a With One Voice rehearsal

Get a glimpse of what it’s like to be part of a With One Voice choir rehearsal! Thanks to WOV St Kilda for sharing their rehearsal and their stories with us.

Want to experience it for yourself? Find your nearest choir and come along!

Want to support the With One Voice program? Click here to donate.

With One Voice Melbourne CBD relaunch

After a brief hiatus over the winter months, we’re thrilled to announce that With One Voice Melbourne CBD will be relaunching on October 17th! Everyone is welcome to join us for the launch event. Come along to meet new people, join us in song, and maybe even find some community! This is a free event, and everyone is invited!

Find more details on the Facebook event here. 

The launch will be held at the choir’s brand new rehearsal venue – the chapel at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne. The choir will be rehearsing there every Tuesday from 6:00pm. For more information, you can take a look at the choir’s page here. With One Voice Melbourne is a community choir that’s open to everyone – no auditions, and no experience required. Interested in joining? Come along any week you like for a free trial session!

WOV Geelong in the news!

Our With One Voice Geelong choir was recently featured on ABC News! Check out the video below for the full story, or click here to find a written version. It’s great to hear our members talking about the social connection that the choir has provided them.

The Geelong choir rehearses every Monday evening. Find more details on the choir’s page if you’re interested in coming along!

Altona Meadows is BACK!

We’re delighted to announce that the Altona Meadows choir is BACK! Starting this Thursday (2:00 – 3:30) at the Altona Meadows Community Centre in Trafalgar Ave.

We’re also delighted to announce the incredibly talented and experienced Steph Payne has joined the With One Voice family, and will lead the newly re-formed Altona Meadows choir. Here’s what she had to say this week:

“I’m Steph Payne, the new director of the choir and we invite you to a part of the new chapter in the choir’s history.

I’ve been directing a cappella community choirs for 25 years. I remember watching a choir sing live for the first time and thinking the best place to hear that must be where the director stands and deciding that was the job for me. Once I’d experienced the beautiful feeling of singing harmonies and being part of a singing community, I wanted everyone to feel that joy too. I went off to study music and the rest is history! I am also the director of Willin Wimmin, women’s choir in Williamstown, which I’ve done for the last 8 years.

You’ll notice all directors have their own style. I teach a lot of folk, world and popular songs. There is soul, positivity and heart in the music and I can’t wait to share it with you.

We hopefully have a performance coming up! We’ve applied to sing in the Newport Fiddle & Folk Club’s upcoming Theme Night. It’s just one song but it’s so great to be a part of this fun event and to have something to work towards.

Come along on the 28th of April and see if you enjoy yourself and we’ll sort out joining properly, if you want to, once you’re there.

Term 2 begins 28 April, 2022.
Thursdays 2:00pm-3:30pm
Altona Meadows Community Centre – 28 Trafalgar Avenue, Altona Meadows.

Who is the choir for?

As always with WOV choirs, adults of all abilities, cultures, backgrounds, vocal ranges and genders are welcome. Even if you’ve never sung a note, you are welcome here.

Can you help?

We will need a couple of volunteers to help with the admin of the choir. Please let me know if you’re willing.

Spread the word!

Do you know anyone who’d like to sing? Tell them about us. Bring a friend! Attached is a jpg that can be shared on your social media feeds. We’d like to build up the choir numbers to ensure it’s longevity so we need help to find people.

Covid Safety

It is the nature of groups like ours to have some vulnerable community members who need to be protected from Covid-19, myself included. I take this quite seriously.

Please be careful to never attend when unwell, if you are a close contact or if you have any suspicion that you’ve been exposed to the virus.
Please be sure to be vaccinated and if you are more comfortable wearing a mask, that is great.
While at choir, the chairs will be spread out and I encourage everyone to avoid touching or getting close to each other.
Despite whatever rules governments may or may not have in place, looking after each other’s health and safety will remain important.

Thanks Kym Dillon!

Thank you to Kym Dillon for all of the work and music lovingly put into starting and building this community and for the support and wishing us well now. Kym remains well loved by all (she’s a tough act to follow!) and I look forward to the times the broader WOV community gathers and we get to sing all together.

I am excited to meet you all, get to know this community and help it to grow into this next phase.

Regards,
Steph Payne”

We’re so delighted to have Altona Meadows singing together once more after such a long hiatus. We hope you can make it down for a sing. Tell your friends!

TIME IS RUNNING OUT TO GET A $10K CHOIR START-UP

WE HAVE 3 FINAL GRANTS TO PROVIDE FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES TO START THEIR VERY OWN CHOIRS

– THEY MUST BE AWARDED BEFORE JUNE 1, 2022

APPLY NOW – WE WILL CONSIDER ALL AS THEY COME IN

Will you be our 33rd, 34th or 35th With One Voice choir Nationally? We hope so 🙂

 

https://www.creativityaustralia.org.au/join-a-choir/start/

Driftwood – The Musical

Driftwood – The Musical tells the inspirational story of the renowned Austrian/Australian sculptor Karl Duldig and his artist/inventor wife, Slawa Horowitz-Duldig. We follow their lives in pre-war Vienna, Slawa’s ingenious invention of the foldable umbrella, and an incredible chain of events after miraculously escaping the Holocaust and rebuilding their careers as artists in Melbourne. A magical story of art and creativity, survival and perseverance, family, freedom and love.

This epic story has been adapted for the stage by award-winning playwright Jane Bodie, based on the original memoir by Eva de Jong-Duldig. It features original Music and Arrangements by Anthony Barnhill with Lyrics by Creativity Australia’s founder and Chair Tania de Jong AM and Jane Bodie. It features an all-Jewish cast directed by acclaimed, indigenous theatre-maker Wesley Enoch AM.

We encourage you to watch and share the trailer for Driftwood – The Musical in your networks! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDDetJiubkI

The world premiere performances of this work will take place between 13-29 May 2022 at Alexander Theatre, Monash University and Chapel Off Chapel in Prahran.

Tickets are NOW on sale. Don’t miss out – book today!The event website is live, and tickets are available at https://driftwoodthemusical.com.au

 

With One Voice Seed Funding Round 19 OPEN NOW!

With One Voice community choir Seed-funding grants of up to $10,000 available NOW!

Creativity Australia is building a happier, healthier, more inclusive nation with our life-changing With One Voice (WOV) program. There are currently 32 WOV community choirs across Australia that counter the increasing incidence of loneliness in our communities and bridge the gap between people experiencing disadvantage and those more fortunate through the neuroscientific benefits of group singing. We build supportive networks that help people connect to brighter futures. Together, we can change the world… one voice at a time.

As we continue to work towards our Covid-Normal we have awarded 4 grants of up to $10,000 in 2021 through our With One Voice Local Franchise Start-up fund. The first round for 2022 is now open with applications closing 5pm, Thursday, 31 March 2022.

Local community groups, social businesses and not-for-profits wanting to promote social inclusion and tackle loneliness, isolation, depression and disadvantage in their community are invited to apply. Additionally, each successful application joins a 12-month intensive mentoring program that ensures success. We’re on the look-out for more community organisations who are movers and shakers in their communities; aspiring to produce meaningful change and create a more fair and caring society; and are passionate about community wellbeing and the power of the arts – especially singing. If this is you, click here for more information and to start your application today.

https://www.creativityaustralia.org.au/choirs/start/

WOV AUS, We All Sing Together

WOV AUS, WE ALL SING TOGETHER: END OF YEAR AUDIO RECORDING PROJECT

A Mass Singalong audio recording of We All Sing Together, written and produced by Cath Mundy and Jay Turner, conductors of With One Voice Brisbane ?

This exciting project is a celebration of our WOV community joining back together in person, getting through the last 2 pandemic years and nicely tying off the year and online program that has kept us all going throughout this challenging time. It leads perfectly on from the online program and Mass Zoom sessions of previous months and will, in one big go, bring together the WOV community online once again, culminating in a wonderful mass audio recording of Cath and Jay’s fantastic original song. Something for the ages!

WOV HQ and all involved are very pleased to share with you the final recording and video available to view here! https://youtu.be/bvQ2nFOwcqo

Thank you to everyone, Cath and Jay and your wonderful song, Nicki and Craig for their video editing expertise and everyone! who submitted an audio recording or who joined us for the video ?

It really is an amazing celebration of the years that have been and our WOV community sticking together.

AND REMEMBER – ‘Your voice has a place in the choir, your voice has a place in the world.’

WOV HQ Team 

Online was fun, thank you all- but it’s time to get back together – come join us.

19 months ago we embarked on a journey into the unknown.

  1. How could we keep our choirs together when we can’t sing in person?
  2. How do we keep our Conductors employed when we can’t sing in person?
  3. What other options did we have when we can’t sing in person? 

They were quite scary questions, the answer to which was eventually – going online.

Since March 2020 we have

  • delivered almost 700 unique online sessions,

  • featured 32 professional artists,

  • reached 20,000+ people,

  • received more than 192,000 unique engagements and

  • had more than 557,000 video minutes viewed.

I’m not sure we thought this would be the case when we started.

A lot of us have got to know one another a lot better over this time, which is a wonderful (if unplanned) outcome. The familiarity, understanding and even empathy that comes from this will result in better connected choirs with better HQ support in 2022.

The Livestream/Zoom/YouTube has allowed us to continue to employ ALL our wonderful conductors throughout and this is the primary reason that they’re still around 18 months later ready and willing to lead your choir again.

If you did watch the online sessions, I want to personally and gratefully say thank-you. Without you actually watching and participating, there may not have been a choir nor conductor able to re-commence. Those of you who tuned in have kept this organisation alive, vibrant and (honestly) viable – I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Now, we enter the final stages of our online experiment as we look forward to re-engaging with each other personally and musically. As we do I would ask you to consider tuning in online over the next few weeks.

  • If you haven’t before, I know your conductors would love to see your face or a comment come up – you cannot imagine the boost it gives them.
  • If you do tune in regularly, maybe watch someone different than just your conductor also or maybe see if you can’t convince some more of your choir mates to join you.

Having 20 0r 30 people tune in to watch and participate will create a wonderful positivity and fuel a brighter return to choir.

While it has not been ideal, it has been very exciting, educational and completely entertaining.

I have thanked all our wonderful conductors for their astonishing approach to what we’ve been through, they’ve never waivered in their focus on providing music for all your lives. You can thank them too by tuning in (or second best attending the first session back).

If you haven’t heard from your committee about the details to coming back, you will soon – don’t stress – some situations are a little more complex than others.

We at HQ are looking forward to getting back to doing what we’re more comfortable with (and probably better at too ?), once you’re all rehearsing again.

If you have any questions or anything else at all please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Cheers and Thanks again

Nathan Lange Business and Operations Manager Creativity Australia

With One Voice Seed Funding ROUND 18 OPEN!

With One Voice community choir Seed-funding grants of up to $10,000 available NOW!

Creativity Australia is building a happier, healthier, more inclusive nation with our life-changing With One Voice (WOV) program. There are currently 32 WOV community choirs across Australia that counter the increasing incidence of loneliness in our communities and bridge the gap between people experiencing disadvantage and those more fortunate through the neuroscientific benefits of group singing. We build supportive networks that help people connect to brighter futures. Together, we can change the world… one voice at a time.

As we continue to work towards our Covid-Normal we have awarded 4 grants of up to $10,000 in 2021 so far through our With One Voice Local Franchise Start-up fund. The final round for 2021 is now open with applications closing 5pm, Tuesday, 30 November 2021.

Local community groups, social businesses and not-for-profits wanting to promote social inclusion and tackle loneliness, isolation, depression and disadvantage in their community are invited to apply. Additionally, each successful application joins a 12-month intensive mentoring program that ensures success. We’re on the look-out for more community organisations who are movers and shakers in their communities; aspiring to produce meaningful change and create a more fair and caring society; and are passionate about community wellbeing and the power of the arts – especially singing. If this is you, click here for more information and to start your application today.

https://www.creativityaustralia.org.au/choirs/start/


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