Olympias wins Community Award

Congratulations to the Olympias Music Foundation, winners of the Creativity in the Community Award at the Be Proud Awards 2019.

Hot on the heels of their success at the 2018 Manchester Culture Awards (which saw the group pick up the Promotion of Equality and Diversity accolade), Olympias Music is a multi-award-winning charity founded in 2015 by PhD student Jo-Yee Cheung.

The group’s primary aim is to bring music to deprived communities in Manchester, promoting the belief that everyone should be given opportunities to engage with music, regardless of income or background.

This year alone Olympias, which involves RNCM students and alumni, has enjoyed considerable achievement.

In January, they launched the Maingot Scholarship Programme, enabling 19 children on free-school-meals to take weekly violin lessons. In March, their community choir, Children’s Voices, performed Jonathan Dove’s Pinocchio at the Whitworth Art Gallery, and in May, Arts Council England awarded them over £22,000 towards Making Manchester – a multi-media performance exploring real-life migration stories to the UK, as told and performed by 60 secondary school pupils alongside professional musicians, artists and dancers.

The Be Proud Awards are the city’s annual celebration of the extraordinary volunteers and unsung local champions who make a real difference in our communities and help to make Manchester great. This year, more than 200 individuals and groups were nominated in 12 different categories. Three finalists in each category were invited to a prestigious Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony at Manchester Central Convention Centre on Friday 8 November 2019.

18 November 2019