Ian Ritchie
Ian Ritchie
Artistic Director
Drawing on more than forty years of experience in the creative leadership, management and transformation of a number of arts organisations, including orchestras and festivals, Ian Ritchie presents theoretical and practical models for the programming, strategic planning and successful execution of arts projects and businesses - models that are transferable from the arts into any field of endeavour - with creative and inclusive imagination as their essential starting point. He is currently Artistic Director of The Musical Brain (since 2010) and sings whenever possible. He continues to work on dismantling the artificial silos which separately contain the human essences of Culture, Medicine, Social Care and Education and in nurturing the creative nexus between them, with music at their heart.
News
Culture, Health & Wellbeing International Conference
21st – 23rd June 2021
Full programme: https://www.ahsw.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Culture-Health-and-Wellbeing-International-Conference-PROGRAMME-07-06-21-v2.pdf
Session curated and chaired by Ian Ritchie:
Socially-inclusive Music-making – the Art of Equality, Diversity and Wellbeing
15.10 – Monday 21st June
This session will touch on the main themes of the conference, addressing inequality, power and sustainability, through the social and artistic lens of inclusive musical ensembles which have been emerging in recent years. Ian is joined by some of his fellow pioneers in this ground-breaking movement to share their international insights: Clarence Adoo, Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayan, Evelina Charlie Larsson (Swe) and James Rose. The concepts of diversity, inclusion, health and wellbeing overlap, depend on each other and enjoy mutually beneficial relationships with culture generally, arts particularly and music especially. Here we find an expanding landscape in which music can define its new creative frontiers, determine its wider role in building a healthier, more equal society and derive future fulfilment for its composers, performers and audiences.
For some relevant background reading, see Ian’s blog reports (below) of two national conferences happening simultaneously in Ottawa (Canada), organised respectively by the Alliance for Healthier Communities and by Orchestras Canada in June 2019. Ian contributed to discussions in the former about Social Prescribing (being piloted at the time in both the UK and Canada) and presented to the latter his inclusive orchestra model, based on the Setúbal Youth Ensemble (Portugal), which he founded in 2014.
https://oc.ca/en/open-youth-orchestras-inclusive-music-making/