Education & Outreach
In tandem with their performances, The Telling presents education and outreach projects for the public and, in partnership with animateur Sarah Atter, in schools and within local communities across the UK.
Songs & Stories Project
inspired by Into the Melting Pot
Photo by Waffle
​​In partnership with experienced animateur and musician Sarah Atter, our Songs and Stories Project encourages communities of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants to share songs and stories and create new songs about their own or their families' journeys to the UK.
The project is inspired by the story of our show, Into the Melting Pot, where a Jewish woman, Blanca, is being forced to leave Spain in 1492, and tunes into Spanish medieval music and the Sephardic songs and stories of a community of Jewish, Christian and Muslim women from across the Spanish peninsula.
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We have so far brought the project to Wolverhampton Refugee and Migrant Centre (2024) which concluded with a performance of the new piece to 60+ members of the rest of the RMC community, Manchester Jewish Museum (2024) which concluded with a small public performance and exhibition of their creations, Birmingham Refugee and Migrant Centre (2025) and Oasis One World Choir in Cardiff (2025) which concluded with participants performing to 40+ people as part of Early Voices Festival.
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"I was in a state of depression before coming to the workshops, but after engaging with you in the stories and songs, I felt better. Thank you for this beautiful charitable work. I wish success to everyone.”
Wolverhampton RMC participant
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"It helped with reframing the mind and eventually it created hope and empowerment. It helped with integration and building connections"
Wolverhampton RMC participant
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“It was wonderful to see our participants enjoying it so much with so much smiling, engagement and laughter. They have clearly loved working with Sarah and found the workshop very stimulating. Some were giving informal feedback afterwards saying how these things are really supportive of their mental wellbeing, and for some of them, this is the first opportunity they have ever had to be involved in making music.”
Birmingham RMC staff
“To have a direct connection with the subject matter – albeit in an informal manner - and then to connect by performing in a pre-show performance then watching “Into the Melting Pot” was an honour and a mind widening experience for all. This was a profound experience and allowed everyone to reflect at different levels on the subject matter and what it meant to them. The project will definitely have helped the individuals to grow in confidence – autonomy at expressing themselves how they’d like to express themselves.”
One World Choir Musical Director
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​Thank you to Arts Council England, The Shoresh Charitable Trust, The Victoria Wood Foundation, The James Beattie Charitable Trust, The Grimmitt Trust, Continuo Foundation, Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation, Colwinston Charitable Trust, The Gwendoline and Margaret Davies Charity, The Darkley Trust, The Samuel Gardner Memorial Trust and The Nugee Foundation for supporting these projects.
Watch Clare Norburn's interview at REMA 2024 Awards
Articles on the REMA 2024 Awards
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Gramophone
https://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/article/the-rema-awards-2024-winners-revealed
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The Early Music Show (BBC)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00202z7
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​Giornale della Musica
Workshops in Schools
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In 2023 and 2024, Sarah Atter worked with a primary school and secondary school in Cumbria and a primary school in Wolverhampton to deliver a composition project inspired by Beatriz de Dia in Unsung Heroine. The students worked in groups to create their own songs and the project culminated in a performance in front of their peers and parents.
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"allowing the children to express themselves through songs and lyrics is something not often offered but is important in their emotional development"
- Primary school teacher
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Musicians of The Telling visited primary schools in Cumbria and Conwy during their December 2023 Carol tour to teach pupils how to sing some carols and about their surprising history.
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Thanks to The Hadfield Trust, The W E Dunn Trust, The Grimmitt Trust and The James Beattie Charitable Trust for supporting these projects.
Public Workshops​
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Ahead of some performances throughout the year, The Telling presents singing and instrumental workshops to allow members of the audience to learn some of the pieces ahead of the show. Participants are then invited on stage at the beginning of the second half of the show to perform what they have learnt in front of the rest of the audience.
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Since the beginning of the first COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020, The Telling has been delivering online singing workshops. For over a year, they offered singing workshops every Friday morning, welcoming over 70 participants at its height in Summer 2020. In recent years, The Telling has presented one-off online workshops ahead of tours, as well as carol singing workshop series over 3-4 weeks every year.
“Yesterday I found myself in tears as I realised it was the first time in many years I'd actually been able to sing a carol.... thanks to our weekly half hours, my voice is beginning to come back. There have been few benefits of CV-19, but your Zoom singing sessions have been one”
Singing Workshop Participant
