{"id":60057,"date":"2026-05-08T13:38:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T13:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/?p=60057"},"modified":"2026-05-08T13:38:50","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T13:38:50","slug":"flagship-spring-gala-event-for-sheffield-music-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/flagship-spring-gala-event-for-sheffield-music-hub\/","title":{"rendered":"Flagship Spring Gala Event For Sheffield Music Hub"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Octagon
Sheffield Music Hub Spring Gala – Photo by Steel City Choristers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

More than 350 children from all walks of life came together last weekend for what Sheffield Music Hub call their \u201cFlagship show of the year\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hub provides low-cost musical instruments and classes to children from disadvantaged backgrounds across Sheffield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year’s event was bigger and more inclusive than ever before, with 10 deaf students singing along using Makaton, a form of British Sign Language for children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 1,500 people attended the Octagon to watch more than 20 groups come together for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heather Burge, a violin and viola teacher and SEND provision lead at Sheffield Music Hub said: “Before this event, the 350 children had never met and practised together, finding affordable venues big enough to hold all of the children is impossible.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event this year was run almost single-handedly by the children from the Sheffield Music Hub, with full training and support from actual industry specialists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The technical team worked with nine children, including teaching light programming, audiovisual design, organising sound, and, as part of their learning process, recorded the senior choir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the children have been working with a sound technician, not just standing and watching, but actually teaching hands-on experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other roles included stage management, timing assistance, and front- and back-stage assistance. Several were also placed front-of-house to direct people to their seats and to bring children performing to the main stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heather said: \u201cThis year we wanted to give a genuine experience to our gala, not just ticking a box.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rory Evans, social media, communications and volunteers co-ordinator, who joined the organisation two years ago, said: “Music can have such a profound effect on people; the ones that don\u2019t fit in find their tribe. They all love each other, and they all just accept each other.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A variety of communities from across Sheffield participated in the event, giving those who are from marginalised backgrounds a chance to meet others from similar backgrounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gala sold out of tickets quickly and is considering an alternative venue to increase capacity, but is limited by the cost of hire and the lack of disabled changing facilities suitable for participating children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rory said: “We receive arts funds but haven\u2019t had an increase in 14 years, which is basically a 50% cut in funding.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hub was granted \u00a34.7 million in January 2025 and is adapting a building in the city centre that will house seven music groups and include appropriate changing facilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 350 children from all walks of life came together last weekend for what Sheffield Music Hub call their \u201cFlagship show of the year\u201d. The hub provides low-cost musical instruments and classes to children from disadvantaged backgrounds across Sheffield. This year’s event was bigger and more inclusive than ever before, with 10 deaf students […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":302,"featured_media":60904,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[191,7,159,164,1122,1],"tags":[105,12],"class_list":["post-60057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-charity","category-culture","category-education-2","category-mental-health","category-music","category-uncategorized","tag-music","tag-sheffield"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/302"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60057"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61323,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60057\/revisions\/61323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}