ARCO'S MISSION

Marking our 5 year anniversary, we are very excited to announce that The Ayoub Sisters are now our Artist Ambassadors! Between tours and performances, Sarah and Laura are brewing ideas for collaborative music making with Arco's young musicians. Watch this space for further announcements!

Bootcamp for Strings (BFS) is an intensive, fun, half term project for Arco students, focussed on developing their musical abilities, teamwork and confidence. This year, BFS was a 2 day project, for all ages and experience. On day 1, students came together for 1.5 hours to rehearse a new piece of music together. Arco’s more experienced students supported the younger students as Mentoring Musicians throughout rehearsals, under guidance of Arco teachers. On day 2, the students recorded their rehearsed pieces as a video to watch with family and friends at home. Go to our Youtube channel to watch their videos!

To celebrate our 5th birthday, we have had our very own sticker sheet made! The stickers are waterproof, so start decorating those instrument cases and show everyone you support Arco! All proceeds will directly support our young musicians' violin tuition. To purchase a sticker sheet, copy paste the below link: www.justgiving.com/campaign/arco5

We are on a mission to reduce the negative impact Music Education has on the environment. We ran a one month instrument collection point in April 2022, where we collected unused, unwanted and broken string instruments and accessories. Atelier Tammam hosted us at their sustainable couture shop, where we had half of the shop to display our work, host workshops and receive donors. Using parts of donated broken instruments, we repaired others, making as many complete sets as possible. The instruments are given to new students joining our programme or those needing an upgrade. We received many broken instruments from the Nucleo Project, Sistema England, parents whose children had stopped playing their instrument and independent musicians. Arco’s students came on several days to learn about repairs, sustainable practise and help with setting up the instruments. Bows that could not be repaired were turned into small practise bows, for the youngest beginner students. As we had a surplus of those, we have donated some to donors who were excited to use them in their teaching practice. Bodies of instruments that could not be repaired have been donated to artists, who have turned the instruments into art-pieces for their local community cafe. Cases that were irreparable have been stripped for parts and separated to ensure as much as possible could be recycled. Arco goes Eco reached donors as far as from Birmingham and Kent, through word of mouth and social media advertisement. The Strad wrote a piece about the project, which can be found here. All photos by Matt Hickmann Photography

6 October 2023 marks the 5th anniversary for Arco! Exactly 5 years ago, our first group of young musicians took their violins home for the first time. What is your favourite Arco memory since 2018?

Arco on a big stage, what a day! The team at Cripplegate Foundation invited us to perform at their Islington Council Community Chest celebration event in the Islington Assembly Hall. Surrounded by all organisations who make Islington such a great place, our young musicians performed their own chosen repertoire. Watch this space for more! Photos by Steve Bainbridge