Jo and Sophie talk to programme leaders, tutors, students and the administrator of the two-year postgraduate Leadership programme, which ran from 2007–2019 at Guildhall School of Music and Drama for musicians wanting to develop their practice in socially engaged settings.
This constitutes episode 5 of a special series for miaaw.net about social practice programmes and projects at Guildhall School of Music and Drama from the 1970s–2020s.
EPISODE 05 | MAY 22 | 2026
Jo Gibson | Sophie Hope
COMMENTARY
In this episode, we hear from tutors Jan Hendrickse, Nell Catchpole and Sigrun Sævarsdóttir-Griffiths; administrator Lucy Hunt; and students Preetha Narayanan and Jo Gibson about the beginnings, changes and challenges of the programme.
Topics include: the diverse, international cohort; how staff and students navigated the process of making music in different settings; how meanings of socially engaged practice evolved over time; and the tensions between the programme and the conservatoire context in which it was situated.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the podcast and to the Leadership programme over the years.
Links to websites of the podcast guests:
Jan Hendrickse https://www.janhendrickse.com/
Nell Catchpole https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/staff/nell-catchpole
Sigrun Sævarsdóttir-Griffiths https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/staff/sigrun-saevarsdottir-griffiths
Preetha Narayanan https://www.preethanarayanan.com/
Jo Gibson https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/profile/1884
Past website documenting the Leadership programme
Guildhall Connect https://royalanniversarytrust.org.uk/winners/guildhall-connect-a-large-scale-programme-using-musical-creativity-to-engage-and-inspire-young-people/
Series of reports about Guildhall Connect by Chigusa Futako
Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning
