Meet the BBE team at The Brass Band Conference | Brass Bands England

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Meet the BBE team at The Brass Band Conference

Monday, 3 October, 2022

This October we're delighted to present a hybrid conference on Saturday 22 October in Sale and online. Packed with exciting workshops, talks and presentations on the theme of ‘Banding for Life’, a full programme of guest speakers, and free 1:1 advice sessions.

As well as independent speakers, a number of Brass Bands England staff members will be presenting on their fields of expertise:

Originally from Manchester, Pamela Johnson has a degree in Performing Arts (music, dance and drama) from Leicester and has worked in cultural marketing, grant funding, audience engagement & education roles since 1990. She is a professionally qualified fundraiser with particular expertise in diversifying organisations’ income and securing funding from both public and private sources. Her consultancy involves training, facilitation and mentoring support for organisations and boards and interim cover for senior management roles. Pam’s session, focused on audience development best practice and principles, is ideal for any band looking to create your own audience development plan.

Sheila Allen grew up in the heart of brass banding country in Yorkshire, learning to play the cornet (and the clarinet!) through the free provision offered at her middle school. After a family move to the midlands, she returned to her roots to study Music at Huddersfield as a student of Phillip McCann. On her return to the midlands she went on to build a successful private music teaching practice and later completed her Secondary Music Teaching Qualification, spending 14 years leading music, and later performing arts, in a local secondary school. Sheila’s session will explore some of the experiences, observations and data generated by the Brass Foundations team since January 2021, giving some insight into how our heritage is perceived and received by children across the country.

Helen Minshall has a vast amount of experience both as a performer and teacher. Over the last 30 years she has held teaching posts throughout the North West of England - in Wigan, Bury and Salford. She has also worked as bass tutor for the National Children’s Brass Band of Great Britain. After a successful 15 years as Head of Brass for Bolton Music Service, Helen is now pursuing a freelance career, and has set up a successful music teaching company, Minshall Music Ltd. Helen has been in post at Brass Bands England as a Youth Brass Development Specialist since January 2021. Helen is currently Musical Director of Astley Unlimited Band and her presentation will focus on successfully setting up and managing a daytime adult band in her local community.

See the ull programme for The Brass Band Conference 2022.