Brochure Text

The Firebird Trust:

The Firebird Trust is a specialist music development agency based in the East Midlands.

We work with both professional and amateur musicians and, most importantly, we also provide
platforms for all members of the public whatever their abilities to access music-making in a
creative and fun way.

We do this by focussing our work on setting up and supporting collaborations between individuals,
communities and organisations. The way that we work is underpinned by a belief that artistic
excellence can be achieved by anyone and the best ways to realise this occur when individuals are
given the opportunity to make their own decisions and find their own creative paths.

Whilst we work with partners in the arts, education and local government, we also specialise in
initiating and developing cross-sector programmes that draw on the knowledge and expertise of
other sectors including health and wellbeing, higher education and business.

We raise funds for our work from a variety of sources including Arts Council England, local
government, and charitable trusts and foundations.

Firebird for communities and schools:

We believe that by working in a completely collaborative way with the artists who devise and deliver our
projects and by allowing these artists to use their imagination in consultation with the communities they will
be working with they will tailor their ideas and aspirations to deliver exactly what that community wants. By
using this approach we believe that our artists and the communities with whom they are working can produce
their very best work. This empowers not just the artists but also the communities to achieve great things.

We believe that the best workshops and activities are delivered by people who are completely engaged and
passionate about what they are doing and who they are doing it with. Therefore by working with artists to
develop their ideas and themselves, we provide a conduit to produce some of the very best quality projects
and workshops in the United Kingdom.

Firebird for artists:

Continued Professional Development:

Firebird provides CPD for artists predominantly through action learning within our projects. We also have a
very collaborative relationship with the artists we work with and provide training for them when they identify
that they would like guidance and additional resources in a specific area.

Mentoring:

Firebird works with artists at every stage of their careers, whether that is straight out of school at 16 or the
veteran practitioner working well after retirement age! We provide a mentoring facility helping artists to
develop their skills in all aspects of project proposal, management, and also delivery.

Artist led initiatives:

Our projects are all products of our artists ambitions. We provide artists with a sounding board to discuss
project ideas and then we provide the support that they may need to make that happen. Whether that might
be administrative support, application writing, office space or help devising a budget. Firebird puts the projects
first in a bid to make them happen.

Firebird for Businesses:

Firebird can help your business to work for you! We bring people together in an open and creative
environment that helps to build bonds and friendships within a team. We encourage and facilitate you
employees to work and think in a more creative and innovative way, opening minds up to new possibilities.
Team building in such a creative way using music as a tool helps people to look at things in different ways and
helps to promote leadership and problem solving as well as developing communication skills. Using our
creativity and passion we can create a bespoke package tailored to your business making sure that we meet
your needs.

Current Initiatives:
KOMPOSIT:

Devised and managed by musician and composer, Jo Freya, KOMPOSIT is an important our of our flagship
initiative to desgined to develop a new flexible orchestral resource for the nations East Midlands composers.
Our aim is to facilitate composition, without the categorisation of genres, by enlisting composers and musicians
from across the broadest of musical genre spectrums. Firebird has seed funded this initiative and is assisting Jo
in building the its capacity of the project to deliver nationally.

It KOMPOSIT offers:
 A creative environment within which musicians can develop their aspirations, ideas and ambitions
both as performers and composers.

A structure for composers to develop their work through a collaborative rehearsal programme
interacting directly with the performers. This process is expected to be a two way process between
the composer and musicians.

A context for collaborative working between musicians and composers with a wealth of directions and
possibilities.

An opportunity to bring freelance musicians together from a wide range of cultural and musical
backgrounds to explore working collaboratively together in the creation of new music.

A forum for listening to the needs and concerns of the regions musicians and composers.

Health and Well-Being:

Firebird is involved in working with hospitals to provide music within wards and waiting areas. This engages
patients with live music in an environment where beeps are the main interruption to silence. The introduction
of live music within [to?] the hospital environment is proved to reduce stress, anxiety and depression, to
improve mood and raise spirits and to enhance self esteem. Firebirds current initiative in this area aims to see
practitioners working within three different hospitals on a weekly basis for a substantial period over the
longterm [???} bringing interactive workshops and ambient music to a variety of different wards, waiting areas
and patients within these hospitals.

Ripples and Waves:

Ripples and Waves is a development of our previous initiative in Binbrook, Brookenby, Sudbury, Longford and
Brailsford Pebbles in Ponds. It is a cross-generational creative music project that aims to brings together a wide
variety of community groups both those already established e.g. residents associations as well as those
specially created for the project across the villages of Binbrook (East Lindsey), Brookenby (West Lindsey) and
Brailsford (Derbyshire dales) in thorugh a series of creative music-making workshops run by our highly skilled
and experienced community musicians.

The overall aim of Ripples and Waves is to pick up on the impact and foundations laid by the previous
initiative, take the interest the local community now has in the power of the performing arts to catalyse
individuals, groups and whole communities into creating and developing their own initiatives, and use our
musicians not only as creative music leaders but also as community mentors to assist the people in Binbrook,
Brookenby and Brailsford in achieving their own ambitions in relation to the performing arts in general and
music in particular. Part of this process will include helping the community develop their own strategies for
acquiring funding, either directly from local government or alternatively through Firebird via other sources (e.g.
charitable trusts and foundations) and advising on content and delivery. Firebirds musicians will also be
working with the community to source locally-based musicians with specialist skills (e.g. guitar, choir-training
and in Derbyshire the creation of a Songphony a collection of songs inspired and written by the community),
draw them into the project, set-up, oversee and develop their relationship with the community. This move, in
particular, will be key to establishing regular and sustainable music/arts sessions and events into the future that
have been specifically identified by the community.

Digital Beginnings:

Digital Beginnings is a series of assistive music technology workshops designed specifically for people with
disabilities, providing pathways into music for disabled people of all ages and abilities.

Musician and songwriter, Shirley Novak, musician and songwriter specialises in helping disabled people
overcome physical and social barriers to music making. Her approach is fully inclusive and enables everyone to
be equally involved, not only extending access to this method of music making but also encouraging full
participation. The music technology set-up used in workshops is specifically tailored and modified to ensure
that each and every participant in a group is fully included and can make music.

The workshops themselves enable disabled people to create, play and perform music. Participants are able not
only to make musical sounds, but also control the sound at the moment of creation through real-time
technology. This access to real-time music encourages students to embrace and develop their own sense of
creativity and musicality, and enables participants, parents, and carers to realise what can be achieved, and
what the possibilities are.

Future Jobs FundEmployment Training and Internships:

The Firebird Trust in partnership with Lincolnshire Dance over the last 12 months has From time to time we are
in a position to provided provide employment opportunities for 16 young people aged 18 to 254 who were
categorised as long term unemployed. Roles within the organisations that were filled in the past include: have
been as trainee community practitioners, administration and communications staff, and project
managersement.

This scheme has enablesd the young people that have spent time with us to experience the world of work but
they also took on responsibility for running projects and to work with us to tailor make their experience to
meet their needs. This projects aims were to develop these young people personally and professionally with a
view to them going on into full time employment or freelance careers as artists.

From CPD to Action LearningAction Learning:

Dr Daniel King, a lecturer in organisational development at Nottingham Business School is working with us on a
research programme to examine Firebirds approach to action learning. In this context, action learning refers
to Firebirds ethos and methodologies for supporting the musicians and other artists that we work with. It is
not only a core component of our projects, but forms a common strand across other initiatives, such as
Komposit, where key personnel and musicians receive a level of support coupled with artistic and managerial
autonomy not offered by other organisations.

Creative Team:

Liam Robinson:

Liam Robinson works for Firebird as a freelance musician and a line manager for our current Future
Jobs Fund cohort. He runs his own company, The Mini Morris Company, which specialises in teaching
English folk dance and music workshops with primary school children being his main audience. As
well as his teaching activities Liam is a nationally and internationally acclaimed melodeon player. He
also plays other instruments such as the banjo amongst others. He leads his own group, The Liam
Robinson Dance Band, which has performed in various venues across the UK as well as in countries
such as the USA, Holland and Lithuania.

Jo Freya:

Jo Freya is Project Director for Komposit, one of Firebirds projects working across the East Midlands.
Jo is a well known saxophonist, vocalist and composer who can currently be seen with Blowzabella
and Freya, Abbott, Ferguson. Known for collaboration and composition she toured in the 90's with
her own euro band, Freyja, and worked as Music Project Director for the British Council in Egypt and
Bahrain. Her specialism is Folk Music in the modern world.

Gary Hammond:

Gary works for Firebird as a Project Manager and Music Leader on our rural initiatives in Lincolnshire
alongside fellow Artist Association member, Liam Robinson. He also works as a line manager and
trainer for our Future Jobs Fund music practitioners, Kevin Howden and Pete Goodyear. Away from
Firebird, Gary delivers workshops in schools across the country on a variety of themes including:
Soundscape Storytelling, African drums and even music-based numeracy work.
As a professional musician, Gary is a world renowned percussionist having been a member of The
Beautiful South for many years. He has also worked as a session musician for a variety of different
acts including Nina Simone. Nowadays, he is part of folk world music duo The Hut People who are
rapidly gaining national acclaim having been voted number one at Musicport festival poll two years
running.

Stickman" Higgins

brief biog
Dave Stickman Higgins:

Dave Stickman Higgins works for Firebird as a freelance music practitioner and is a member of our
Artists Association. He currently works alongside Rikki Thomas Martinez on our Ripples and
Waves project in Derbyshire.

Dave delivers a wide variety of different types of creative workshops with all age groups covering
subjects ranging from African history to things such as poetry and percussion based activities. Like
many other members of our Artists Association he is also an accomplished musician in his own right
playing with the band, Stickmanouvres, as well as writing and performing his own songs. He also
takes a very keen interest in researching his mixed heritage and uses elements of this in much of his
work.

Rikki Thomas Martinez:

Rikki Thomas Martinez is currently active as project manager and musician leader for Firebird
working with rural communities in the Derbyshire Dales alongside Dave Higgins. He is a very talented
Latin-style classical guitar player and performs with his group, Mas y Mas, whose repertoire mixes
their own material with traditional songs in the Salsa/Latin style. The group has performed all over
the world including Cuba, Borneo and Spain. He also delivers workshops where he helps people
produce professional recordings of their guitar playing.

Ling Peng:
Ling is a member of Firebirds Artists Association. She is an accomplished Erhu (Chinese fiddle) player,
and has performed in many places around the UK. She also runs her own workshops in schools
covering Chinese music and culture, and Chinese calligraphy. In addition to this she also has turned
her hand to performing music to interpretive dance and theatre.

Shirley Novak:
Shirley Novak is a creative practitioner in music technology delivering music/media centred
workshops providing opportunities to enable anyone with an interest, or a range of skills experience
and expectations, to access music/media at all levels, on all scales and in a variety of roles whoever
you are.

For eleven years Shirley was a professional singer/songwriter touring nationally and throughout
Europe, and writing/recording four CD's of original material. After nearly 20 years in Arts
development and music, her practice includes delivering music centred workshops, arts coordination
in schools, composes original royalty free music for a variety of applications, is a music producer and
arranger working from her cellar studio in the East Midlands. Her production technique is to listen,
centred around her philosophy that 'music is what feelings sound like'.

Firebird Staff:

Simon Steptoe:
Firebirds Executive Director, Simon Steptoe is a qualified secondary school music and ITC teacher
and a specialist in Javanese Gamelan music. Prior to this his main interest was in C20th composition
which he studied through to postgraduate level at Durham University.
In the early nineties he taught music at a number of secondary schools across the North-East of
England until taking up an Indonesian government sponsored scholarship to study traditional
Javanese music at the at the Institute of Indonesian Arts in Surakarta (ISI), Central Java.
Returning to the UK in 1996 he was offered the post of Gamelan and Creative Projects Officer at the
Hall Orchestra which provided him with the opportunity to develop a programme of creative
outreach work across the North West and beyond. The culmination of his time at the Hall was a
composition project that brought musicians from the orchestra together with their counterparts
from ISI Surakarta to exchange skills and create new work premiered in both Jakarta and Manchester.

In 2005 he took up his present post at Firebird and, building on the organisations substantial legacy,
he has been instrumental in driving the Art Association initiative forward and placing it at the heart
of the organisation.

Kayleigh Glasper:

Kayleigh Glasper graduated from The University of Nottingham with a BA Hons is Music in 2007. She
joined The Firebird Trust in 2009 to take over the administration requirements of the company. Since
then her job role has developed to include the management of various projects, project
development specifically in the areas of health and wellbeing and to act as a team leader for our
recent Future Jobs Fund project.

As well as being Firebirds Programme Co-ordinator Kayleigh plays flute with the National Flute
Orchestra and performs on a professional basis. She plays Gamelan with Nusantara in Nottingham
and does some private instrumental teaching in her evenings. She has more recently started leading
music workshops within the community and schools sector.

Ross Taylor:
Ross Taylor completed a National Diploma in Art and Design in 2010 at Lincoln Art College and
leaving with a triple distinction. Whilst being involved with the Firebird Trust as part of the Future
Jobs Fund Scheme Ross has been working under Kayleigh Glasper as her administrative assistant as
well as the companys graphic designer, creating new graphics and redesigning Firebirds branding
and creating new promotional materials. Ross is staying on with Firebird as their in house Graphic
Designer following the end of his contract with Future Jobs Fund.

Getting Involved:
If you would like to join us on our journey as a musician, trustee, a volunteer, a funder or would like to be involved in a
project with us, then please contact us!

The Firebird Trust

The Stables
Wellingore Hall
Wellingore
Lincoln
LN5 0HX

Tel: 01522 811229

Email: admin@firebirdtrust.com
Web: www.firebirdtrust.com

To donate just text FIRE27 and the amount you wish to donate to 70070

Charity Number: 1120880

Company Ltd by guarantee: 6111626