New Energy and New Possibilities: An Autumn of Creative Engagement
Among the seasonal madness, the Creative Engagement Team at Stoller Hall find a rare moment of quiet to reflect on a packed autumn term. Here’s what we’ve been up to!
Team Growth
As the Creative Engagement Team continues to deliver an ever-increasing number of projects, there was only one solution… to expand the team! In September, we were thrilled to welcome Chris Mather onboard as our new Creative Engagement Coordinator. In one term, Chris has seamlessly become part of the Creative Engagement family and is conducting excellent work across our Schools and Haworth Emerging Artist programmes. Welcome, Chris!
Schools
September also saw the return of our popular Key Stage 2 Online Workshops. Themed around nature, our free online workshops provided 1,062 children with the opportunity to explore a variety of musical skills including Body Percussion, Lyric Writing, Found Sounds, and Soundscapes. Facilitated by musician Sarah Atter, the sessions were not only fun and interactive for attending schools, but also a great opportunity for young musicians from Chetham’s School of Music to share their musical skills and passion.
“It’s one of the best parts of Chets to have these opportunities to inspire younger generations of kids and hopefully be able to share my love of music and songwriting with them, and even more amazing that a collaborative compositional process can happen across schools and the product of so many musical minds!” – Bardo, Year 13.
To book your place on next term’s KS2 workshops, contact us at joinin@chethams.com
Encouraging students at Chetham’s to share their musical skills with other young people and inspire them is at the heart of what we do. This was evident during our recent visit to Burnage Academy for Boys, one of 30 MiSST (Music in Secondary Schools Trust) partner schools in the UK. Five of our woodwind and brass students performed for all Year 7 and 8 pupils, each of whom has received their own instrument through the MiSST programme. By demonstrating their instruments, discussing their musical journeys, and sharing some of their favourite music, our Chetham’s students inspired the young musicians at Burnage to continue developing their skills and to pursue their musical education with confidence and enthusiasm.
Library Tours
From September 2025, we’ve been delivering tours and workshops within the historic Chetham’s Library to schools across the northwest. We offer curriculum–informed workshops focussing on both History and English, using items from our collection as sources for study and to build pupil’s knowledge of the topics presented.
This has been in development for many months, and so far feedback from these tours is excellent, with visiting pupils praising the staff, workshop activities and Library space.
‘I loved exploring the different rooms, the Library was really cool to see’ – Year 11 pupil
‘I liked getting to write my poem best and hearing the poems everyone else wrote’ – Year 9 pupil
‘I have learnt a new way to engage pupils in poetry!’ – English Teacher
We will continue to develop these workshops, build a richer offer and engage with as many schools as possible. The Library is a hugely valuable resource, and we would love to share it with as many people as we can! School Tours and workshops at the Library are now sold out until April 2026, and we are working to maintain this level of interest moving forward.
View this post on Instagram
Community
Creative Engagement continued to support Chetham’s students in sharing their music with a wider audience through the sell-out free Relaxed Lunchtime Concerts.
These popular events featured 17 students showcasing a range of musical talents to 191 members of our Stoller Hall community this term. The concerts also celebrated nationwide initiatives, including International Day of Older People and National Befriending Week, highlighting the power of music to connect people across generations. With exciting plans ahead, we are eager to get to know our loyal audience better and ensure we continue to provide meaningful musical experiences for everyone. Relaxed Lunchtime Concerts will return for the new year on Wednesday 4 February.
Our Make Some Noise! Programme provided music development courses for young people who access support from Wood Street Mission. During October half-term, we welcomed 20 young people from Ardwick for a day packed with music-making and songwriting. With the guidance of musicians Liam Frost and Ellen Lewis, every participant learned new skills around creating and making music. We can’t wait to welcome more young people from Salford and Manchester to Chetham’s for music-making and creativity in the new year!
Families
This Autumn term we welcomed back 932 members of our family audience, introducing children aged 3–7 to musical adventures with old and new friends through Stoller Story Sounds and Mini Music Adventures.
After a summer preview in the Lake District, our brand-new Stoller Story Sounds character, Robot, was warmly embraced by our Stoller Hall families. Joining Robot on their first adventure into the forest, children explored the natural world through colour, sound, and movement.
In October, Leo the Lion returned, travelling across Jungle Island to enlist his friends in creating the perfect birthday treat for Tunde Turtle’s 102nd birthday. Young audiences had the chance to sing, get creative, and play a variety of percussion instruments, including the surdo, marimba, and timpani.
Closing the Autumn family season, our Mini Music Adventurers joined storyteller Faz Shah and guest musician Rapasa Nyatrapasa Otieno on a brand-new journey to Kenya in Quiet Kijana & the Water Queen. Accompanied by students from Chetham’s, the performance was filled with traditional Kenyan music and instruments, interactive music-making, and plenty of dancing, encouraging imaginations to soar.
We used this Mini Music Adventure’s celebration of Kenya as an opportunity to broaden our family community by connecting with Know Africa CIO, a Wythenshawe-based charity that supports and celebrates African people and culture across Manchester and beyond. Know Africa promotes African heritage while offering valuable community support through learning and engagement opportunities. To support these aims, we were delighted to invite Know Africa families to join our wider Stoller family community in exploring and celebrating Kenyan culture and music.
We can’t wait to welcome our family audiences back in 2026 for more Stoller Story Sounds performances and our Big Band Bop family concert in March!
Emerging Artists
Our Emerging Artists 2025 programme is almost at its conclusion. We have seen outstanding concerts from Dominic Mattos, Rory A .Green and Sagnick Mukherjee, with Eleanor Dunsdon and Gregor Black performing in the Carole Nash Hall next year as part of Manchester Folk Festival.
The artists have spent time with Chetham’s students delivering masterclasses in strings, music technology and folk, as well as developing knowledge and skills in marketing, development, engagement and more! Over the next 12 months, we will be expanding and evolving our development opportunities within the programme, including building a collaborative project, expanding our Rush Hour Concerts series into a fully-fledged programme, and increasing the onsite time we have with our artists.
We are now taking applications for our 2026 Emerging Artists programme, so if you are a northwest-based musician in the first three years of your career, we would love to hear from you! We are excited to develop and support even more artists in these essential early-career years, as well as expand our offer to other art forms to create a truly enriching and collaborative development programme.
‘It’s amazing to have this opportunity to be a supportive environment that encourages you to further critically think about and refine your work’ – Sagnick Mukherjee
‘Having someone who’s willing to hold your hand and give you a bit of support is an amazing thing’ – Dominic Mattos
‘This scheme has allowed me to take time away from my usual work and focus more just being creative and exploring new sounds and new music for myself’ – Rory A. Green
View this post on Instagram
We can’t wait to deliver even more opportunities for experiencing music, supporting emerging talent, and bringing communities together in 2026!
As a charity, making music fun, affordable, and accessible to the people of Manchester and beyond is at the heart of what we do. However, keeping our projects affordable comes at a cost. Therefore, if you feel able to, we would be very grateful for any donations, no matter how small, which can support our mission to share music with everyone. Find out more here.
To find out more about Creative Engagement, email us at joinin@chetham’s.com or visit stollerhall.com/join-in
