Applications are now open for Wigmore Hall’s Music for Life Training and Development Scheme. This is a unique opportunity for vocalists who are keen to develop their skills and experience in supporting creative music sessions with people living with dementia, their families, and carers.

We are recruiting one Trainee Vocal Leader to take part in our Music for Life programme between September 2024 and July 2025. The successful candidate will be supported throughout by leaders and mentors and will have the chance to take part in other training sessions and opportunities as part of Wigmore Hall Learning’s wider Pathways programme.

Application deadline: 5.00pm, Friday 19 July 2024

Music for Life is an internationally renowned creative music-making programme for people living with dementia and their families, friends, and carers, founded by Linda Rose in 1993 and led by Wigmore Hall since 2009. We are proud to work in partnership with a range of organisations to provide meaningful opportunities for people at all stages of dementia. The programme encompasses a wide range of projects and events in care settings, community settings, online and at Wigmore Hall itself including:

• Care home projects – creative, improvisation-based projects in residential care settings, including projects in partnership with Jewish Care
• Singing with Friends – a weekly choir for families living with dementia taking place at Wigmore Hall and online, in partnership with the Royal Academy of Music and Resonate Arts
• Monday Afternoons – creative, improvisation-based projects with people with young onset dementia and their families and carers
• Music for the Moment – informal concerts for people living with dementia and their friends, family and carers in partnership with the Royal Academy of Music, Resonate Arts and St Marylebone Parish Church
• Music for Thought – creative workshops for people living independently / at home in partnership with the Royal Academy of Music and Resonate Arts
• Out of the Ordinary – an online project for people living with rare dementia in partnership with the Royal Academy of Music and UCL Rare Dementia Support
• Training and development opportunities for musicians, and training programmes for organisations developing work inspired by Music for Life

Our vision is a world in which the human rights of all people living with dementia are respected and upheld, where they are treated with dignity and fully included in society. We play our part by creating music activity for and with people living with dementia, which is fully inclusive of people whatever their stage or type of dementia.

We aim to enhance the wellbeing of all those involved by enabling creative agency, a sense of purpose, and meaningful connections with others. We also want to support carers and musicians in their journeys to better understand the experiences of people living with dementia, and to help them to improve their confidence in supporting them.

Our practice reflects Wigmore Hall Learning’s values of care, collaboration, and equity. Improvisation and flexibility are at the heart of Music for Life and our team works in a responsive way, both in moment-to-moment interactions, and more broadly in listening to and shaping sessions around participants’ ideas.

Music for Life Trainee Vocal Leader: the successful candidate will take part in a 12-week placement (mix of half days and whole days) with Singing with Friends, our choir for people living with dementia, their families and carers. They will also take part in four improvisation-based sessions as part of the wider Music for Life programme (in-person and / or online).

The roles are paid the following training and development fees:

• £100 per half-day workshop (up to 4hrs)
• £150 per whole-day workshop (between 4-8hrs)
• £20 per half-day training session

For full details on the role please read the scheme description

We would love to hear from you if you are:

• A singer aged 18+ who is keen to gain experience in singing workshops and improvisation-based music workshops for people living with dementia
• Working in any genre and with any voice type

You must be eligible to work legally in the UK in order to take part in this scheme.

Wigmore Hall is committed to being a fair and inclusive employer. We value diversity, promote equality and challenge discrimination. We value all kinds of experience, and welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds with relevant lived/personal, voluntary, educational and/or professional experience of the above. We embrace and celebrate different learning styles and neurodiversity, and welcome discussions around reasonable adjustments. We are working to increase representation of under-represented groups in our workforce, and strive to ensure our staff and musician teams reflect the communities with whom we work. We particularly welcome applications from people from the global majority*, disabled**, trans and non-binary candidates, as they are currently under-represented in our workforce.

*This includes, but is not limited to people of Black Caribbean, Black African, South Asian, East Asian, South East Asian, Middle Eastern, Arab, Latinx, Native American and First Nations heritage as well as people indigenous to the global south

** This includes but is not limited to those who define as disabled people, as people with long term health conditions, as d/Deaf or as neurodivergent

More information can be found in the scheme description

If you would like to apply, please complete the online application form by Friday 19 July 2024, 5.00pm.

You are welcome to submit your responses to the questions on the application form via a video/audio recording, or via the written form. If you decide to respond via video/audio recording, please include a link to an online video or audio file of no more than 12 minutes in duration in the field provided on the application form. If this timeframe presents an access barrier for you, please get in touch with Lydia Nickalls, Head of Music for Life, on 020 7258 8249 or lnickalls@wigmore-hall.org.uk.

If you complete the optional diversity and equality monitoring form this should be sent separately (this can also be via video or audio recording if you prefer).

If you don’t have access to a computer/the Internet, or have any accessibility questions related to the application process, please contact Lydia Nickalls, Head of Music for Life, on 020 7258 8249 or lnickalls@wigmore-hall.org.uk.