Lyric life

We recently celebrated the five-year anniversary of our Reuben Foundation Wing, the home for all our activity for young people aged 0-25. When we are open, we have over 700 young people each week attending regular classes across all of our creative spaces which include a Recording Studio, Digital Suite, Music Practice Rooms, Sensory Space, Film and TV Studio, Dance Studio and even a Cinema. The very fabric of our building was made with creativity, access and inclusion in mind.

Our young people’s work is brought to life through the Lyrics distinctive partnership model, where nine organisations (including the Lyric) with unique expertise, work in partnership to nurture young talent and creativity. Together we offer young people from West London high quality, affordable activities in a wide range of art forms to help develop their creative, social, personal and economic potential.

After a five-year partnership, we wanted to take some time to celebrate the incredible work of each of our Young Lyric Partners.

Action on Disability (AoD) are a West London Disabled People’s Organisation (DPO) led by disabled people, for disabled people. They work to ensure that disabled people have independence, choice and control over their own lives. At the Lyric, they deliver a regular after school club and offer Disability Equalities Training for our staff.

AMICI Dance Theatre Company are a unique dance theatre company integrating able-bodied and disabled artists and performers. Founded by Wolfgang Stange in 1980, they turn 40 this year. Their productions and workshops have had a major impact world-wide, challenging conventional attitudes about disability and the arts. Their Young Amici integrated dance class runs every Wednesday at the Lyric.

Dance West is West London’s Community Dance organisation, a registered charity engaging 36,000 people aged 1-104 each year in high quality dance activity. At the Lyric, DanceWest offers a programme of accessible dance classes including contemporary classes for children and young people, a Youth Dance Co and inclusive dance classes.

Musiko Musika exists in order to create opportunities for people of all cultures to express themselves through music and work together, developing talent and improving individual life chances, and supporting cohesion in communities. Their flagship Ethnic Contemporary Classical Orchestra project is based at the Lyric as well as their very popular Songo family music sessions for young children.

New English Ballet Theatre are a modern ballet company with a mission to present exciting new work to the widest possible audience. They are committed to the continual reinvention of classical ballet and give the young people they work with paid employment into the dance profession. Each Saturday at the Lyric, they run a range of ballet lessons for young people from ages three and above.

Tri Borough Music Hub provide opportunities for young people to develop a life-long love of music and realise their musical potential whilst developing their personal and social identity. They run 14 different classes a week at the Lyric that range from 1-1 music tutorials to a full scale youth orchestra with 70 young people.

Turtle Key Arts devises and produces original and ground breaking performance arts projects. They have a long-standing reputation for advancing participation in the arts by disabled and socially excluded people, engaging with the most vulnerable and disadvantaged parts of society. Each month they run a Key Club for young people with autism and all of their activity at the Lyric is offered free of charge to young people.

ZooNation Youth Company was founded in 2006 and currently trains over 150 students, aged from 4 to 21 years old, in all styles of Hip Hop dance. On Friday nights our Dance Studio comes to life with their Hip Hop classes for young people in West London.

Since 2015 our partnership programme has grown from strength to strength and we continue to develop by sharing our expertise and resources with one another so that we can continue to achieve a greater impact within West London than any of us could alone.

Even during closure, we continue working together to ensure our programmes are inclusive and welcoming to all by removing barriers of engagement for young people.

We can’t wait to see what our partnership might look like in the next five years as we strengthen our impact locally, disseminate our learning and continue championing the value of the arts for young people.

If you can, please consider supporting our ground breaking work with young people by donating to our Lyric Recovery Fund, here. Your donations will help us continue to ensure that our work with young people thrives for future generations.

Rob Lehmann – Director of Young Lyric