26 January 2012
Bridging the barriers
Drake Music – an innovative charity using music technology to
empower disabled people - has been granted £77,000 by the City of
London’s City Bridge Trust. Drake Music breaks down disabling
barriers to music through innovative approaches to learning,
teaching and making music.
Billy Dove MBE JP, Chairman of the City of London Corporation’s
City Bridge Trust Committee said: “The funding awarded to Drake
Music by the City Bridge Trust will allow the organisation – the
only one of its kind in England – to initiate a two-year project to
provide training, professional development and performance
opportunities to disabled musicians and artists in London. City
Bridge Trust admires this work because it helps overcome the
barriers that disabled people face – a real bridge linking creative
talent and musical opportunity through technology. “
Drake Music focuses on nurturing creativity through exploring
music and technology in imaginative ways. Music-making is at the
heart of every project, connecting disabled and non-disabled people
locally, nationally and internationally. It works with people of
all ages and abilities.
Carien Meijer, Chief Executive of Drake Music, said: “There is a
real need for quality, bespoke professional developments
opportunities for disabled artists and musicians. This grant
will enable us to provide meaningful training, mentoring and
coaching and increase employment opportunities in creative
arts.”
Last year the City’s City Bridge Trust made 228 grants to London
charities, totalling £16.8milion and between 1995 and 2011 it
granted over £250 million to London charities.
The Trust’s origins can be traced back to 1097 when William
Rufus, second son of William the Conqueror, raised a special tax to
help repair the wooden London bridge. In 1176 the first stone
bridge across the river Thames began and that bridge, with its 19
arches, was completed 33 years later in 1209.
Ends
Notes to editors
- Press enquiries
Nick McClelland,
City of London Corporation
Tel 020 7332 1754
Email
nicholas.mcclelland@cityoflondon.gov.uk
Ciaran Rafferty, City Bridge Trust, City of London
Corporation
Tel 020 7332 3186
Email
ciaran.rafferty@cityoflondon.gov.uk
Drake Music
Carien Meijer
Chief Executive
Tel 020 7739 5444
Email
carienmeijer@drakemusic.org
- About the City of London Corporation
The
City of London Corporation is a uniquely diverse
organisation. It supports and promotes the City as the world
leader in international finance and business services and provides
local services and policing for those working in, living in and
visiting the Square Mile. It also provides valued services to
London and the nation. These include the Barbican Centre and
the Guildhall School of Music & Drama; the Guildhall Library
and Art Gallery and London Metropolitan Archive; a range of
education provision (including three City Academies); five Thames
bridges (including Tower Bridge and the Millennium Bridge); the
Central Criminal Court at Old Bailey; over 10,000 acres of open
spaces (including Hampstead Heath and Epping Forest), and three
wholesale food markets. It is also London’s Port Health
Authority and runs the Animal Reception Centre at Heathrow.
It works in partnership with neighbouring boroughs on the
regeneration of surrounding areas and the City Bridge Trust, which
it oversees, donates more than £15m to charity annually.
- The City Bridge Trust
The
City Bridge Trust is London’s largest independent grant-making
trust, and its sole trustee is the City of London Corporation.
Through grant-making and strategic initiatives, the City Bridge
Trust works closely with voluntary groups and charities to reduce
disadvantage in London. The City Bridge Trust was set up in 1995 as
the grant making arm of Bridge House Estates whose original purpose
was to maintain the first stone bridge across the River Thames –
London Bridge. Its funds date from the 12th century when tolls were
first charged. www.citybridgetrust.org.uk
- Drake Music
Founded in 1988 by Adele
Drake, Drake Music uses assistive music technology to enable
disabled people to participate in and access music and the arts,
supporting and showcasing disabled musicians as professional
composers and performers. It works with people of all ages and
abilities and also provides training to able-bodied musicians so
that they are better able to work with disabled people with or
without assistive technology. www.drakemusic.org