Anyone who has been tracking our Arts Council England and National Lottery supported #CommuntyLockIn this year may have noticed a theme or regular references back to a place - North Yorkshire, Leeds particularly.
That’s down to one particular and very special, generous and committed man, a dad and school community leader.
Read how a Tweet by Chris Dyson Head Teacher at Parklands Primary led to a Leeds lad with severe special needs headlining a very special Glastonbury Festival before going on National ITV News and a slot on BBC Breakfast.
While grateful for the support of many people across the education bubble, many look the other way and few have shown the support of Chris Dyson, head teacher and school community leader of Parklands Primary, set on one of the most challenged but proudest communities of the Seacroft Estate in Leeds.
The film over there gives a taste of his approach and achievements.
HIS #ARTCONNECTS
Last year, I was invited to speak alongside Chris at a Child Poverty and Education Conference organised by Leeds City Council in the city.
It was opened by a heart breaking performance by a blind and disabled young woman in a wheel chair who sang Ed Sheeran’s ‘I am nobody’. Her father told us how she dreamed of singing at a festival, maybe even one day with Ed so we did what we could to make that happen.
As it happened we had an #ARTofCOLLABORATION conference planned with global educationalist, innovation and leadership guru Richard Gerver on the eve of the publication of his new book ‘Education - a Manifesto for Change’.
With the financial support of a benefactor and LNER trains we arranged for Kirpa to come and sing both there and the day after at a busking spot we had arranged at Camden Market.
Each day of our summer of #ARTofCOMMUNITY20 Festivals have been dedicated to kids, carers and seniors.
The Friday of our weekend at Eden Project was dedicated to Kirpa, so we were delighted to make that dream of singing at a Festival come true.
We never did hear from Ed, but guess he was busy in lockdown too,
AS IF THAT WASN’T ENOUGH
In early June Chris tagged us in a tweet to introduce us to a remarkable young man, Lennie who loves to to play the piano. He has many challenges including Cerebral Palsy and Hydrocephalus that stops him being able to hold a pencil, but nothing stops his hands on those ivories.
Listen to Lennie’s mum on BBC Sheffield
And were just as delighted when Lennie agreed to headline the Friday night of the #YourGlasto event we ran on a half size pyramid stage we built from cardboard and code on a school playing fields down the road from Glastonbury.
BBC Radio Sheffield heard about it and Lennie and his mum appeared live on drive time on the Friday (listen here) and since then he’s been on the national ITV news at 6pm and today BBC Breakfast.
The film below shows snippets of all of the above and below that you can see all of Lennies performances in full at #YourGlasto, ITV News and BBC Breakfast.
But for now, the question is, who will key note at #ARTCAMP20 - our Three Day Creativity Festival for 200 People in a Secret Location in the West Country, Live for 200 People here and Live Streamed to #CreativeCarers there?
BBC BREAKFAST IN FULL
YOUR GLASTO KEYNOTE
ITV NATIONAL NEWS
#YOURGLASTO
And if you’d like to see the highlights of #YourGlasto with Gary and Martin Kemp talking about how a 10p a week drama club changed their life see below.