Arts Council England supports next phase of Lullaby Project collaboration with the RPO

Posted on February 1, 2024 by ittsoundingout in News // 0 Comments

We are delighted that Arts Council England is supporting the next phase of our Lullaby Project collaboration with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Resound.

Over the next two years, we will bring the Lullaby Project to mums and dads in four prisons across England and community settings in Reading and London, including performances at Reading Hexagon, Cadogan Hall and Rich Mix. The Rich Mix show will be livestreamed, to reach as wide an audience as possible. As part of the programme, we will also be offering opportunities for emerging musicians, with a workforce development event for music students and a commission competition for a young composer.

Originally devised by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute in the US, the Lullaby Project invites participants to work with professional musicians to write and record a unique lullaby for their children. The aim of the project is to strengthen the bond between parent and child through a creative arts activity. The project can also be a way for parents to explore and express their emotions in a safe, non-judgmental environment.

“They have experienced something incredible… Most prisoners have a lack of self-esteem, lack of ambition and don’t even realise how isolated they’ve become, and this interaction with such talented people allows them to experience a sense of release, normality and frequently sparks off an element of positivity which they’ve not experienced in life.”

Prison Governor feedback on the Lullaby Project

We initially became involved in the Lullaby Project through commissions by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which included co-delivering the Lullaby Project in Chicago in 2015; seeing the impact of the project, ITT partnered with the RPO to bring the project to the UK for a London pilot in 2017 working with dads in prison and migrant and refugee mothers, which then lead to delivery across several regions from 2020-2022.

Lullaby Project BBC Radio 4 documentary

Broadcast in 2022, this beautiful half-hour documentary followed the creative process and sensitively told the stories of some of the dads we worked with in prison on the previous phase of the Lullaby Project. It is still available to listen to via BBC Sounds here.