Meet Rhia Parker

Meet Rhia Parker, our new Participation Manager. Rhia is co-ordinating our workshops series alongside leader Aga Serugo Lugo with members of the St John’s Waterloo community taking part in the run up to NW Live Arts’ next concert, Creative Connections. Music from the concert programme will be used as one of the resources for the workshops. Participants will work on their stories told in words and music together with Rhia and Aga. Musicians taking part in the concert, including Emma Purslow, Iñigo Mikeleiz-Berrade and Kuljit Bhamra MBE will collaborate with the storytellers to create a soundscape of words and music.

Although the workshops are not open to the public, all are welcome at the concert, Creative Connections, which will take place on Wednesday 17 April 2024 at St John’s Waterloo.

What do you think is so special about NW Live Arts?
I was so excited to join the team at NW Live Arts as Participation Manager. I immediately sensed the energy around making the community outreach projects the best that they could be – to really celebrate the participants and showcase their creativity. I admire the breadth of work that NW Live Arts has accomplished in its five years, including continuing to reach out to people during the pandemic, and love its ambition to forge connections and community through cross-cultural music making.

Can you explain a little bit about what’s going to happen in our upcoming workshop series?
We are so excited to be joined by Aga Serugo in our Creative Connections workshops at St John’s Waterloo. We are going to be exploring ideas of place, community and connection through different creative storytelling and musical exercises. We will be swapping stories, listening to music, improvising – following our noses really! That’s what is so exciting about these workshops – you never know where they are going to lead!

What are you excited about in the coming year/Can you share a little bit about your plans for NW Live Arts for the rest of the year?
I am so excited to continue to research NW Live Arts’ understanding of the impact of our social engaged and community focused workshops. What makes them successful? Who are we reaching and why are they important? How do they contribute to wider social and political conversations around the arts, access and policy? Alongside our March/ April workshops, I am also excited for our next set of workshops in Calthorpe Community Garden. I am hoping the early spring weather may even permit us to work outside in the sun at times!

What kind of projects have you worked on before?
I have been working in socially engaged projects for the last 10 years, and love the diversity of projects I have participated in. I spent a number of years in UCLH and Royal Free Hospitals taking students from the Guildhall School of Music into the geriatric wards. I have facilitated workshops with mothers and newborns in the direct aftermath of the pandemic and have partnered with Women for Refugee Women and the Magpie Project delivering music workshops with refugee women and young mothers. I am currently leading a project with Guildhall Masters students with a group of stroke survivors in Dalston. Although the demographics and contexts of each project may differ, really I just love working with people and being inspired by the amount of genuine creativity and music that can get made by anyone, if you create a space for them to access it.

It’s been a tough time for the arts, what drives you to continue working in music?
Because I see the impact of it everyday! I think it is easy to become complacent about the role of the arts as we are drenched in digital ‘content’ all the time. But just a couple of weeks ago I was running a session with some stroke survivors and I just sang a simple song as a warm-up and one of the participants immediately started to cry. In that moment I was reminded yet again of how many people don’t experience or have access to live music – music that is made with them and for them – and what a powerful moment it can be when it happens. Those moments are immensely nourishing and continue to motivate me to keep working in this field.

Which three pieces of music would you take to a desert island?
1. Lady Anne Bothwell’s Lament by Geminiani – played by Genevieve Lacey and Linda Kent. This piece and this performance is like home for me.

2. Anything by The Magic Lantern (Jamie Doe). Given he is my husband this might seem like blatant promotion – but he honestly is my favourite ever singer-songer and lyricist. Never fails to hit something deep within me.

3. Iyo Djeli by Oumare Sangare. You can’t help but feel lifted by this tune. It always makes me dance and brightens my day.

About Creative Connections

NW Live Arts has invited five musicians to co-curate a concert, sharing their favourite music from their cultures and their careers as musicians. The result is a captivating mix of music from plainchant by Hildegard of Bingen, to music by North American composer Kenji Bunch, accordion virtuosi Richard Galliano and Astor Piazzolla, violin music by Enescu and arrangements of pieces by Attab and Kuljit. The programme will also include solos from Kuljit Bhamra’s latest album A Tablanaut’s Journey. The programme is delightfully woven together in a continuous 70-minute performance, telling stories of what brings us together in a joyful celebration of our shared humanity.

The musicians – David Zucchi (saxophone) Iñigo Mikeleiz-Berrade (accordion) Emma Purslow (violin) Attab Haddad (oud) and Kuljit Bhamra (tabla) – will explore themes of place, and connection at St John’s Waterloo this April.

Alongside the concert performance, NW Live Arts is running creative workshops with the St John’s Waterloo community, ​​led by Aga Serugo Lugo. In these workshops, music, improvisation and storytelling will collide, culminating in a soundscape devised by the musicians and workshop attendees as equal creative partners. 

Tickets for Creative Connections are on sale now.

NW Live Arts is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England with further support from The Galashan Trust and The Foyle Foundation.