New Year Update

As the project looked cheerfully and hopefully towards 2021, another lockdown has once again halted any plans for a get-together for our volunteers and trips to archives.

However, there is still plenty to be getting on with! Hilary and Florence will be spending January editing all the work produced by the Research Group, ready for it to be archived and arranged into a new publication on women’s music-making in Cornish history - the first of its kind!

The Oral History group have also produced some wonderful work, managing to safely conduct interviews with their contributors over the autumn, guided by the very skilled Sarah from Storylines. They’ve learnt about ethnopoetics, a way to more truthfully present someone’s words and speech patterns in written form, which has resulted in some really personal and touching content. They’ve also got creative with collages to accompany their work and add another layer of meaning to the interviews - we’ll be sharing some of this online, and in the publication, which will be a lovely contrast to the historical content.

Our filmmakers are doing a fantastic job of adapting to the fluctuating restrictions. While we know that inevitably some of their plans may need to change, some have been able to start on their original ideas which is fantastic. Terry Binns and Eliot Alison, who are working on an immersive exploration of music therapist Ruth Boulton's work, have managed to begin the filming process. Below in this beautiful photo is pictured Ruth (left) with Terry, who says:

As Ruth explains, her work is uncovering new ways of harnessing non-verbal forms of communication as avenues of expression in therapy. We feel extremely privileged to have been invited into her process, further being trusted to find a way of communicating a perspective of her work in audible, visual and linguistic forms. What a joyous process it was!