Thank you to Alison Hawthorne, Vivace Strings and Solihull Music Service

It has been said before and it needs saying again: Favela Brass has great friends!

Professional double bass player and Doncaster Youth Jazz Association alumnus Alison Hawthorn now runs Vivace Strings, a youth orchestra, as part of Solihull Music Service. Just before Christmas Alison organized a public concert and a cake sale with staff and parents to raise money for Favela Brass. The events not only raised £230, but also yielded a donation of a trumpet to the project from Solihull Music Service!

Our success as a project is totally dependent on acts of kindness such as these. All of the shows, recordings and parades only become possible if the children are receiving the tuition necessary to learn to play their instruments, which in turn requires funding: with funding we can buy in local professional teachers to cover the gaps that we can’t meet with our volunteer staff, and with funding we can also attract more volunteer teachers by offering them a better deal in terms of help with accommodation and living costs.

Clearly, then, we owe a great debt of gratitude to Alison Hawthorne, the parents and staff at Vivace Strings, Solihull Music Service, and indeed to all of our donors and partners, for collectively making the project a viable long-term proposition.

We can’t thank you all enough for your kindness and generosity.

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Bindu Mathur

Bindu Mathur was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada and worked for 10 years in London as a TV producer/director, making science and history documentaries for the BBC, Discovery and Channel 4. She also made videos for international NGOs and has filmed in Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and South America. Resident in Rio de Janeiro since 2007 she is the owner of the award-winning Casa Beleza B&B in Santa Teresa, where she lives with her husband and two children. She is a long-time collaborator with Favela Brass including making films for the project. Her children also studied at the project.


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