Civic engagement and extra-curricular music

Since its inception, community engagement has been a vital aspect of extra-curricular music making at Kent, both in terms of programmed concerts for audiences to enjoy, and also for the active participation by members of the local community as part of weekly rehearsals and programmed performance.
Choir and orchestral musicians rehearsing in Canterbury Cathedral

Several of the department's larger ensembles, including University Chorus, Orchestra, and the newly-founded Pop and Soul choir, actively involve members of the local community in their weekly rehearsals and termly concerts. The department has always considered it important to establish connections with the local community, to make it feel a part of the cultural projects that it delivers each academic year;  this also includes the monthly free series of Lunchtime Concerts,  bringing visiting professional musicians to perform in Colyer-Fergusson Hall, often staying on afterwards to deliver workshops involving student musicians.

Violin players in rehearsal

The department also regularly takes its ensembles off campus to perform around the region, including to the Memorial Bandstand at Deal, as part of the bandstand's summer concert programme, with the Big Band; the Nave of Canterbury Cathedral each March for the annual Colyer-Fergusson Concert by Chorus and Orchestra (a major event in the University's cultural and ambassadorial calendar), and a performance in the Cathedral Crypt each June by the Chamber Choir  Additionally, the String Sinfonia performs in churches around the area, including St. Mary's in Faversham,  Faversham Assembly Rooms, and the Green Room in the Leas Hotel in Folkstone.

Performances by the music department and its ensembles are a vital way of demonstrating the importance of arts and culture to the University's provision, enhancing both the student and staff experience as part of their life at Kent as well as drawing audiences onto the campus to attend, and to participate in, a programme of music-making that does so much to enhance the cultural life of the campus and beyond.  

Jazz musicians playing in front of an audience in the summer at the bandstand in Deal

Key points:

  1. Engages community as both audiences and participants
  2. Chorus, Pop n Soul Choir, Orchestra, Concert Band; main ensembles involving external members 
  3. Lunchtime Concert series brings professional musicians to campus (free to attend) 
  4. Off-campus events including at Deal, Faversham and Folkestone to engage regional audiences, plus Cathedral Nave and Crypt in Canterbury 
  5. Performances demonstrate University’s valuing of arts and culture as part of its provision, both on campus and beyond
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