Pauline Down - Voice Practitioner, Wales

Dear Joan Mills,

I attended two days of CPRs Giving Voice Festival last week and I want to thank you for yet again providing an incredibly exciting professional development opportunity for me as a voice practitioner.

My work is in North Wales where I offer voice training to young people wishing to develop their theatre skills, lead the Bangor Community Choir, run various other singing and voice projects in the community and also perform and compose for voice myself.

Like any other artist, in order for my practice to develop and thrive I need to seek training, mentoring, exposure to new work etc. The Giving Voice Festival is the only opportunity I have found in Wales to develop my practical skills, through exciting workshops with international voice practitioners who are leaders in this field.

The 2 day workshop that I attended this year with Frankie Armstrong (Wales ) and Janet B. Rodgers (USA) was excellent and extremely valuable . The lecture/demonstrations that I attended in the late afternoon/early evening were all inspirational in different ways and the innovative evening performances gave me the exposure to new work in this field which I crave.

Simply being amongst other voice practitioners for two days with the networking and discussion opportunities that that brings felt as beneficial as an intensive mentoring session.

I’m not aware of other events that offer such a comprehensive mix of practical workshops, lecture/demonstrations and performances in the voice field.

I know that this mix is a familiar format to the CPR and used for other projects in the year not just the Giving Voice project.

I think we are very lucky here in Wales to have an organisation so committed to professional and artistic development that they put enormous energy into maintaining and developing a thriving international network which feeds practice back here in Wales and also enables positive and fruitful exchange between the different countries.

This is the 7th Giving Voice Festival that I have attended and every single time I have come away thrilled, inspired and with a fresh commitment to my work.

I am aware that the future of the CPR is uncertain at the moment and so I would be grateful if you could forward my letter to the Arts Council of Wales as a way of offering my support because it would be an enormous loss to me, and to those in North Wales with whom I collaborate or to whom I offer my skills, if the CPR were unable to continue offering such important events.

With thanks and appreciation,

Pauline Down, Wales