The People's Music Collective

Creative and collaborative music making with people on a mental health recovery journey

The People’s Music Collective is a project which celebrates the creativity, resilience and voice of people who have a mental health diagnosis.

 

We use collaborative music-making to strengthen mental health recovery and reduce social isolation during challenging times. Our community members work together to build trust, playfulness and creativity, leading to the creation of brand new music. Exploring improvisation is at the root of what we do and enables us to welcome anyone to join the band from experienced musicians to those discovering music-making for the first time.

Every project is co-produced with mental health practitioners as well as the community members who form the band, ensuring that we work as one collective voice. Members are offered training in music facilitation skills and if they wish, take it in turns to lead the group through musical creation processes.

 

Through recordings and public performances, we tackle the stigma of mental ill health and celebrate the diversity, strength and creativity of our community.

 

Sound and Movement

 

The People’s Music Collective has grown out of an artistic research partnership between Soundcastle and movement facilitator, Simon Magnus. Since 2017, and with the support of Arts Council England, Awards for All and Worthing Community Chest, we have been researching how music-making and movement can be combined to promote wellbeing, resilience and confidence building in mental health settings.

Read our evaluation report
Read our toolkit
Listen to The PMC on Soundcloud