Good Vibrations would like to thank all the ±«Óãtv Radio 4 listeners who generously donated to our appeal. You helped us raise an incredible £26,594, to support our work taking the transformative power of the gamelan percussion orchestra into prisons.
Our presenter, Benjamin Zephaniah, told the story of Errol, who found himself in prison after a childhood in care without anyone to direct him. Taking part in one of our gamelan music courses helped Errol realise that he had choices about who he wanted to be in the world. Benjamin Zephaniah also spoke about his own time in prison and how, like Errol, the arts helped him turn his life around.
As we write this, we are in another lockdown due to Covid-19, which means that our face to face work in prisons is suspended. We can only imagine how demoralising it is for people locked in their cells for up to 23 hours a day, unable to socialise, access education, exercise or to see their families. This is having a severely detrimental effect on their mental health. Now is the time they need projects like ours more than ever.
We have several prisons and young offender institutions waiting to bring us in just as soon as government restrictions ease. We even had a prison contact us as a direct result of the appeal. Your donations will make sure our communal gamelan music courses can go ahead just as soon as conditions allow, helping those currently suffering extreme isolation to find connection, expression and self-belief in these difficult times.
Thank you for your support
You can find out more on the Good Vibrations website .
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Good Vibrations Benjamin Zephaniah presents the Radio 4 Appeal, 9 August 2020