Biography
Institute of Fundraising
Associate Member
Royal Society of Arts
Fellow
Institute of Education
Diploma in Psychology and Education for children with special needs (1984-85)
Goldsmiths College, University of London
BA (Hons) in Sociology (1969 - 1972)
Head of Business Studies, Deptford Green School
Teaching the use of technology especially as an enabler for less able pupils and those who spoke English as a second language(1976-84)
Founder and Director, Drake Music Project
A charity with11 regional centres in the UK and Irish Republic working to enable people with disabilities to perform and compose music (1988 - 2004)
• I have Qualified Teacher status
• I gained considerable administrative skills whilst working for the War Office (5 years) and also whilst working as legal and medical secretary in various positions.
• I gained an understanding of the issues facing people with disabilities and their families when my twin sister developed multiple sclerosis.
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Achievements
The Drake Music Project, named for my daughters Olive and Torly (Victoria), was the first organisation of its kind, exploring the use of music technology as a means by which people with disabilities can create and perform music. I formed the initial concept during the research undertaken for my Diploma in Education in 1984/5 and founded the charity in 1988. I was its director until 2004. From an initial £10,000, raised in an auction of pop memorabilia, I developed Drake into a nationally significant organisation with a turnover of over £550,000 per year with 11 regional centres in the UK and Irish Republic. During this period, major achievements include:
The Arts Council England have acknowledged that the work of the Drake Music Project is of national and strategic importance.
Development of personal relationships with many of the major trusts and foundations
I would list the following as being amongst the most exciting grants I secured:
- The first £1,000 from any organisation – it was the Performing Right Society in 1988; someone took the trouble to listen
- £15,000 from Laings Properties for the initial R & D into the creation of specialist software
- Securing core grants from Trusts and Foundations including Lankelly, Baring Foundation, Esmée Fairbairn, the Henry Smith Foundation and many others; developing relationships leading to sustained giving over a period of time
- Regional Arts Lottery Funding to start new work in the South West
- Increasing support from the Arts Council, from the first one-off New Collaborations grant to becoming a revenue client and more recently through the Stabilisation programme.
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Showcase performances and fundraising events at major venues including the ICA in London, the Queen’s Hall Edinburgh, and the Dome
- Celebrating and showcasing the achievements of the disabled musicians attending workshops around the country Involving celebrity artists such as Jools Holland, Andy Sheppard, Bonnie Tyler and Tina May. top
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early pioneers, in Scotland
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Development of E-Scape, music composition software for single switch users
- The realisation that technology was the answer for severely disabled people to access creative music-making led to the development of E-Scape, a music composition software for single switch users. Since the first R&D on the project in 1988, the software has gradually been refined, ported over to PC and is now used in a growing number of schools and by disabled musicians in the UK and abroad. I has been involved at every step of the way, from identifying the issue, to finding someone to create the software, to promoting its use. (Follow this link for more on music technology) top
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Jools Holland, enthusiastic patron of the Drake Music Project for many years
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Presentations at major conferences and seminars including:
- 7th Annual Conference of the British Computer Society Disabled Specialist Group, 1992
- VII World Congress of Music Therapy, Vittoria-Gasteiz, 1993 (with Andrew Cleaton) International Cerebral Palsy Conference in Oporto, and presentation at Lisbon Teacher Training College, 1994 (with Clare Smith)
- International Cerebral Palsy Society (ICPS) 1995
- The Australian Cerebral Palsy Society, Melbourne, 2000. top
Arts Council England have recently acknowledged that the work of the Drake Music Project is of national and strategic importance
- Drake’s first Arts Council funding was in the form of a New Collaborations award in 1992
- Drake became a revenue client of the Arts Council music department in 1992 and this increased from £15,000 p/a to £50,000 p/a in 2002.
- The Drake Music Project was accepted onto the Arts Council Stabilisation programme in 2003. top
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early days with Mark Rowland,now a
graduate of LIPA and
studying for a degree in
Music Production at Chester College
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