By JO HARRISON
NEW England Sings! – the singing spectacular that brought hundreds of school students together to perform from across the New England is earning kudos.
Its creators, the New England Conservatorium of Music (NECOM) recently earned a prestigious national Arts Music Award for excellence in music education.
NECOM director Susanne James attributes their current success to the conservatoriums strong connections with the community.
“We don’t operate in isolation, everything that we do is with schools, teachers and parents,” Susanne said.
“The great thing about New England Sings is that we could never have accomplished this without the full support and incredible assistance from the Armidale Music Teachers Association and all of the principals, students and community musicians in the region were just fantastic.”
New England Sings was designed to develop and inspire singing, performance and Australian composition in regional and remote schools across the New England.
New England Sings! was the largest choral and orchestral showcase in the region. It involved over 700 K-Yr 12 school students and 40+ teachers from 21 schools in Armidale, Bellingen, Glen Innes, Inverell, Kingstown, Tamworth and Walcha); and 74 musicians from the Armidale Youth Orchestra, Armidale Symphony Orchestra, Armidale City Band and the Armidale Pipe Band.
“2012 was our second year of New England Sings! and came about through a gradual development of relationships with schools doing regular workshops,” Susanne said.
“We wanted to give all the schools the opportunity to perform together; singing is your first instrument and that is the way that every child in every school could be involved; they don’t have to play instruments.”
Corinne Arter the Program Manager for New England Sings! commissioned two of Australia’s new and emerging composers to write special works for a large primary and secondary choir.
“We went about making sure that all the schools were prepared and ready to perform,” Susanne said.
“Eighteen workshops and cluster rehearsals were held which was a huge undertaking over a period of seven months leading up to the performances.”
Over 50 per cent of the funding for New England Sings! comes from the Arts NSW Regional Conservatorium Program. This program is there to help conservatoriums put on public concerts like New England Sings!
Armidale Central Rotary also supported the project and the Armidale Branch of the Decorative and Fine Arts Society (ADFAS).
Currently, Arts NSW are reviewing its policies and there is a great fear that this funding will be closed down.
“This is very serious and they are not recognizing the importance of regional, cultural activities,” Susanne said.
“We may not be able to put this on again if the funding is stopped and that is disgraceful.
“I have spoken to our local member Adam Marshall and he is very supportive and has already mentioned this in parliament and he is committed to seeing the funding continue.
“We are lobbying hard and ultimately the decision will be down to the Arts Minister but I feel that many people just don’t realise how precious events like New England Sings! are to regional schools, students and communities.”
