Featured

Ockham’s Razor: The Neuroscience of Singing

June 12, 2014

Ockham’s Razor is a special Sunday night feature on ABC Radio National – a soap box for all things scientific, with short talks by researchers and people from industry with something thoughtful to say about science.

Creativity Australia Founder and Chair Tania de Jong AM will be Robyn Williams’ special guest on Sunday 22 June at 7.45pm on Radio National, so listen in for some special insights into The Neuroscience of Singing.

Stream Radio National online.

ONE MILLION DONORS: WORKPLACE GIVING MONTH

June 10, 2014

June is Workplace Giving Month and this year The Australian Charities Fund is taking things to a whole new level with One Million Donors, a national campaign to involve one million Australians in workplace giving by 2020 to raise funds in a low cost, high impact way through their workplaces, contributing much-needed resources to charities.

We invite you to make Creativity Australia the charity recipient of your organisation’s Workplace Giving Program. We’ve just been named one of Australia’s top social innovations for the second year running and we’d love you to join us on our journey to create choirs Australia-wide, to empower individuals and build supportive communities through the joy of song.

Together, we can help beat loneliness and isolation, mental illness, homelessness, unemployment, cultural tensions and more.

Read more in Our Vision, Our Impact and Board and Governance.

Contact us for details on how to make us a recipient of your Workplace Giving Program, or find out more about One Million Donors at www.australiancharitiesfund.org.au.

A song in the air at Swinburne

June 5, 2014

Pictured: Tania de Jong AM, Founder and Chair Creativity Australia; The Hon Ted Baillieu MP, Member for Hawthorn; Professor Linda Kristjanson, Vice-Chancellor and President of Swinburne University; and Cr Coral Ross, Mayor of Boroondara.

Yesterday was a great day for the With One Voice program, when key stakeholders met towards a future choir in the Boroondara area, supported by Swinburne University. At the event, Former Premier of Victoria Ted Baillieu agreed to become an Ambassador for our upcoming national Sing for Spring project, which will get communities singing from Cooktown to Cottesloe!

Read the Sing for Spring media statement.
Like Sing for Spring on Facebook.

Creativity Australia has also secured funding from beyondblue to undertake, in partnership with Swinburne University, an evaluation project to understand how and why the With One Voice program works. It will be the first step toward a wider independent analysis, the scope of which includes other arts-health programs addressing specific social challenges such as mental health, depression, long-term and multi-generational unemployment.

In addition we are seeking partners for a specific piece of research evaluating the benefits of the With One Voice program for job seekers, in particular those within the job services and disability services network. This will be longitudinal research tracking the job-seeking intentions, behaviour and outcomes of a selection of new choir participants across multiple program locations.

VOTE NOW: ANTHILL’S SMART 100

June 5, 2014

The With One Voice choir program has been named one of Australia’s top social innovations for the second year running! Please click here to like, share and comment on our listing and help us top the Reader’s Choice!

You’re invited to Club Red

April 11, 2014

Here at With One Voice HQ we are so often delighted by the generosity of the With One Voice network. We encourage participants to give back to one another through sponsoring people in need and granting wishes on the Wish List.

Another way to give back to your community is by donating blood. Currently, only 1 in 30 Australians gives blood, but 1 in 3 Australians will need blood in their lifetime.

Club Red – run by the Australian Red Cross Blood Service – provides an opportunity for organisations and groups across Australia to donate blood as a collective.  If one donation can save three lives, imagine how many more could be saved if everyone in the With One Voice network donates blood?

To have your donations be counted towards the Creativity Australia tally, complete this online form. You only need to complete the form once, then every blood donation you make will be added to our team total. Hard copy registration forms are also at all donor centres.

Tip: In the address field, you may use your own address or the address of With One Voice HQ: 68 Clarke Street, South Melbourne VIC 3205.

Thank you to wonderful With One Voice Footscray volunteer Ambassador Ray McAlary for this terrific initiative.

Handy Links:
Introduction to donating blood
Are you eligible to donate blood?
Find your local donor centre
Club Red Registration Form (PDF download)
Life, the Red Cross Magazine

Happy Birthday + Harmony Day

March 17, 2014

You’re invited to join the With One Voice choirs for a lunchtime concert in celebration of diversity this Friday – Harmony Day! The concert also marks the fifth birthday of the With One Voice program! Download our Birthday Media Statement.

When: Friday 21 March, 12.30-1.00pm
Where: Collins Place, 45 Collins Street, Melbourne
View the poster.

The With One Voice choir program, recently named one of Australia’s top social innovations, unites people from 40 nationalities, aged 9 to 90, through the joy of song.

This year we’re busy launching choirs in Altona Meadows, Redfern (NSW), Brisbane and beyond! In fact, following our Founder and Chair Tania de Jong AM’s recent TEDtalk How singing together changes the brain, we’ve had interest from as far away as Phoenix, Arizona!

It’s an exciting time to engage and celebrate with us… so join the singing movement!

Please spread the word to your colleagues, friends and family as we’d love a big turnout at this special event! Everyone is welcome.

Launch of With One Voice Brisbane a hit

March 3, 2014

The launch of With One Voice Brisbane was a great success! More than 100 people attended the Commonwealth Flagship Branch in Brisbane last Thursday night to celebrate the launch of Queensland’s first With One Voice choir. Thank you to everyone who attended and supported this very special occasion.

With One Voice Brisbane is a three-year initiative, seed-funded by the English Family Foundation, with additional support from Page and Maria Maxson, The Curavis Fund, the Mather Foundation, Mike de Gruyter, CBA, Brisbane City Council, OzHarvest and Mind Shift.

Rehearsals will run weekly from Wednesday 2 April, led by Cath Mundy:

When: Wednesdays 5:30pm – 6:45pm
Where: Basement Level, Brisbane City Hall, 64 Adelaide Street, Brisbane

Please spread the word!

Launch of With One Voice Brisbane

February 11, 2014

We’re thrilled to be launching With One Voice Brisbane this month, with rehearsals to start on Wednesday 2 April, led by Cath Mundy!

Queensland’s flagship With One Voice program will connect partners and participants from business, community, philanthropy, education and government sectors. It’s just one more step towards a nationwide (hey, why not worldwide… we’ve had an enquiry from Phoenix, Arizona!) With One Voice singing movement.

With One Voice Brisbane is a three-year initiative, seed-funded by the English Family Foundation, with additional support from Page and Maria Maxson, The Curavis Fund, the Mather Foundation, Mike de Gruyter, CBA, Brisbane City Council, OzHarvest and Mind Shift.

Please spread the word to your Queenslander friends, family and colleagues!

 

Tania at TEDx: How singing together changes the brain

February 11, 2014

News just in! Here’s an awesome video of our Founder and Chair Tania de Jong AM presenting this month at TEDxMelbourne on How Singing Together Changes the Brain.

In her presentation, Tania talks about creativity as the strategic tool of the 21st century! How do we unleash this creativity? Singing together in a With One Voice choir.

Please watch, enjoy and broadly share these incredible insights into the power of song, neuroscience and the future of our communities.

We would love this video to go viral so we can help transform many more lives through our innovative With One Voice programs.

Funding gong for singing movement

January 14, 2014

Wow! Creativity Australia is the grateful recipient of funding through Creative Partnerships Australia! Here’s the low-down.

Creativity Australia’s Executive Director Ross Maher said the funding will be used to employ an Arts-Business Development Manager.

“The new Arts-Business Development Manager will be instrumental in building relationships with donors and will create strategic partnerships to assist Creativity Australia to fund and develop its programs and deliver on our mission to ensure diversity,” Ross said.  (more…)

Sydney Sings’ Littlest Adventurer

January 8, 2014

From the steps of the Pitt Street Uniting Church to the banks of the Ganges, little Holly has big dreams to share the joy of song.

Julie and David and their 10-year-old daughter Holly are mainstays of New South Wales’ flagship With One Voice choir, which rehearses weekly in the Sydney CBD.

“It was wild!” Julie said of the first Sydney Sings rehearsal her family attended.

“Choirs are often sensible and straight… but this was vivacious and inspiring! We just let rip!” she said.

“My husband hadn’t done anything musical in his entire life… but he loved it. Holly said: “Wow! We’ve got to stay, Mum. This is great!” So we did.”

Sydney Sings embraces a wealth of colourful characters, from people living on the streets to people who are running corporations.

“Liz (the vibrant conductor) has a holistic approach that gets you to step out of your head and into a community,” Julie said.

“It’s not just warming the voice up… it’s warming up the whole body and mind.

“It’s a whole new world for Holly. A brilliant world. For her, this has been a real learning exercise… understanding that we’re not all the same; understanding that there are people who have great qualities, and they may not have a home; and understanding homeless doesn’t just mean “on the street”.

“Holly’s education there has been huge. And she’s taken that to school, talking to children about her wonderful choir.”

At our 2013 With One BIG Voice concert, Holly led Sydney Sings with a solo of John Lennon’s Imagine and Julian Lennon’s Saltwater in front of an audience of 2,000 people at the Melbourne Town Hall.

As if this wasn’t exciting enough for a 10-year-old, Holly soon got to share this song much further afield.

(more…)

Joyful festive wishes

December 19, 2013

From all the team at Creativity Australia, conductors, volunteers and choir participants… thank you for your support of the With One Voice program during 2013. We’ve had an amazing year.

In 2014, join us on the next chapter of our singing movement, which will see the launch of new choirs in Altona Meadows (VIC), Redfern (NSW) and Brisbane, our flagship choir in Queensland.

To continue and improve our programs, and ensure they are open to all people, we appreciate your continued support. If you can donate, bring a friend or simply spread the word… you are playing an essential role in the development of one of Australia’s top social innovations.

Let’s work together to empower individuals and build supportive communities nationwide in 2014 and beyond!

Wishing you and yours a magical festive season, filled with the joy of song.

Choirs will resume for 2014 in the first week of February.