Thas A Fact?

Since its formation in 2001, Norwich and Norfolk Community Arts (NORCA) has been tirelessly developing exciting and inspirational outreach projects in our area. From samba and carnival to DJ workshops and singing groups – and everything in between – the team supports and unites local communities across Norwich’s most deprived areas by means of creativity.

Member of the Norwich In Harmony Group. (Image courtesy of NORCA).

Since joining NORCA two months ago as a Play Ranger, I have been witness to the unwavering commitment of everyone involved to offer communities the chance to realise their creative potential, upholding the team’s mission statement:

‘We believe that everyone is creative, and that creative and cultural activities are a fundamental part of our lives. Through involvement in the arts, NORCA will offer people the opportunity and tools to be active, confident participators and creators, and help communities discover, develop and use their ability to express themselves through creativity. We seek to engage people actively in the creation of culture.’

In short, NORCA helps to open doors for people who perceive barriers to their progress such as class, wealth, status and location.  The In Harmony project has been a prime example of this.  Over the course of the last year, the team have worked brilliantly to develop the participating childrens’ confidence, ability and motivation.  The results are there for all to see.

- Stacey Armes

Norwich In Harmony Group. (Image courtesy of NORCA).

When, a week ahead of the event, you agree to an absurdly busy, suffocatingly humid, offensively sweaty, imponderably long day, the magnitude of the effort doesn’t become immediately apparent.  It’s like being told that the Empire State Building is large, but only seeing it on television.  In my early morning grump at six o’clock on the 7^th of July, however, the prospect loomed as though I were ten feet from it.  Violins, double basses, drums, keyboards, xylophones, tubular bells, baby cellos, quarter size cellos, half size cellos and full size cellos – they were all loaded into NORCA’s three In Harmony vans, ready for the drive from Norwich to London.

I’d agreed to be a roadie with In Harmony Norwich for the day because I thought it a wonderful opportunity for the children of Mile Cross, Catton Grove and Larkman Primary Schools to showcase their abilities.  Having a small degree of experience working in primary schools around Norwich, including Mile Cross (teaching, indeed, some of the children present with us in London), it was not difficult for me to imagine the excitement that such a project was bound to conjure.  Seeing the enthusiasm and fearlessness of children first hand is a wonderful thing – something we can all learn from, even – and I was always going to say yes to volunteering.

Enthusiasm is one thing, however.  Ability is quite another.  As much as children need every opportunity they can get to practise their talents, at the beginning of the day I freely confess to having wondered just how adept our children would actually prove to be, not simply as one hundred and fifty nervous individuals on an enormous, daunting London stage, in front of hundreds of people they didn’t know, but as a united – and let me repeat that number – one hundred and fifty piece orchestra.  Each playing in time.  Each playing in harmony.

In Harmony, Liverpool, Lambeth & Norwich. (Image courtesy of NORCA).

Well, you know, hmm?  I’ve known fully grown adults – myself included – fall to pieces talking to an audience of twenty.  Considering this, I’d adjusted my expectations for all these little performers taking part in such an enormous project.  What I saw was superb.

I mean that genuinely.  They were composed, they were confident, they were pleased to be performing – and that goes for the In Harmony groups of Liverpool and Lambeth as well as Norwich.  All the efforts we roadies had gone to, unpacking cello, after cello, after cello in stifling humidity was rewarded in fifteen minutes of real excellence.  It was no surprise that each group received rapturous applause from the audience of the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

The second part of the day was the real jewel, however.  Packing tens, tens and tens of cellos up, carting them across to the Royal Festival Hall and unpacking them again left me a little confused, but I soon realised that all three In Harmony groups – totalling more than three hundred children – would be performing together, for the first time.  Furthermore, these children would also be performing with renowned cellist, and patron of In Harmony, Julian Lloyd Webber.  I must say that they did Liverpool, Lambeth and Norwich proud.

Julian Lloyd Webber. (Image courtesy of NORCA).

Simple as their music was, they performed it with aplomb, from a song adapted from an African original to a tremendously energetic rendition of All You Need Is Love that captivated everyone at the venue, from the enthusiastic and devoted parents to tourists.  The latter song was absolutely wonderful to experience – performed with a zest and volume that belied their age.

So thank you – thank you to the hundreds of children of Norwich, Liverpool and Lambeth who took part, to their schools, and to the tremendously hard-working people In Harmony, for making a special day.  It was a day that underlined the value and importance of music in education, not only showcasing common skills such as listening and team effort but also providing a tremendous platform for disadvantaged children around the United Kingdom, a project for them to focus their attention upon, a catalyst for them to build confidence and, thanks to organisations such as In Harmony, a means of empowerment that will serve these children well for years to come.

- Ryan Watts (Ryan Watts Photos)