2019 Shortlist | The Commonwealth Resounds
The Commonwealth Resounds
Shortlist – Improving Impact: Charities with 0-3 paid staff
Who they are
The Commonwealth Resounds creates opportunities and musical projects for musicians throughout the Commonwealth, with a special focus upon young people and the developing world. This is achieved through outreach work, self-funded touring programmes and mentoring. The charity partners with developing youth orchestras, and other musicians around the world to develop training programmes for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
What they’ve achieved
The charity’s work has had a major impact on musical organisations struggling to raise their profiles in countries with limited provision for supporting the arts. For example, when the charity visited Uganda, its professional musicians worked as volunteers with the Kampala Music School (KMS) and the M-Lisada Youth Band to help students achieve higher levels in their training. In Sri Lanka, the charity ran musical projects with orphans and masterclasses with young musicians; volunteers continued to reach out to these same young people to teach and encourage them event after returning home, using Skype and email. The charity’s masterclasses for a group of Guyanese drummers inspired the participants to return to their community and found their own music school for disaffected young people – five years on and the school supports 60 students. Finally, The Commonwealth Resounds has recently launched an International Composition Award, which is helping 160 young people in Rwanda, India, Antigua and Barbuda to learn to write their own music, and will soon be expanding to New Zealand.
Why they were shortlisted
The Commonwealth Resounds has been able to demonstrate to judges that it has left capability behind after projects have finished. It is an agile organisation, adapting and learning from mistakes. This commitment to adapting based on learning and the needs of those within the countries the charity visits is a key strength of the organisation.
It is a small charity with a big impact, supporting 53 Commonwealth countries. When the organisation became officially accredited as a Commonwealth charity, trustees used their momentum to review their strategy and make changes to how they governed. By defining trustee roles and responsibilities more clearly, based on expertise and skills, the board was able to plan more strategically for how trustees and volunteers could be deployed to support a growing community of musicians throughout the Commonwealth. They were better able to develop partnerships, design and deliver programmes, evaluate their impact, and learn as an organisation as a result.
