We were pleased to award Lancaster Music Festival with a financial grant, with which they have formed their Sanctuary Choir for female asylum seekers & refugees in the district.
Rioghnach Connolly, BBC Folk Singer of the Year, offered a series of singing workshops that were attended by women from many different countries including Syria, Sudan, Kurdistan, Iran, Ukraine, Pakistan and Yemen. During these sessions the women shared songs from their homelands and told stories behind the songs.
It’s amazing to see women who are normally shy because they lack any confidence when speaking English, blossom into confident singers and linking back to their cultures.