Sounds of Progress' Achievments
October 2005
Successfully applied for £25,000 from the Scottish Arts Council's Managed Funds Lottery programme to allow the company to engage a consultant to create a three year Business Plan.
January/March 2006
Sounds Of Progress collaborated with 4 musician/performers from Tanzania on the critically acclaimed music theatre production "Heid" by Forbes Masson. " ...there's a free flowing, off the wall creativity and sheer theatrical nerve about this company's work that many other companies would do well to emulate." The Herald. Five of the seven cast were disabled performers who had been involved in previous productions. Visual artist Keith McIntyre creates the first in a series of visual works for the company.
June 2006
Sounds Of Progress collaborated with the National Theatre of Scotland on Life, Stories and Dreams at Clydebank Town Hall as part of NTS' Connecting Communities Project. 70 people from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences collaborated with experienced professional tutors, directors, artists and technicians and educators. Life, Stories and Dreams involved young people from mainstream and special schools and adults from day centres in West Dunbartonshire and Inverclyde, and the whole project culminated in two performances at Clydebank Town Hall.
September 2006
Company musician and pioneer Joseph Delaney became the first special educational needs former pupil to be accepted for a Community Arts music degree course at Strathclyde University.
October 2006
Arts & Business Scotland presented Sounds of Progress with an Arts Engagement with a Small Business Award for their partnership with Technofear Computing. Lindsay Lewis completed a 3 year Business Plan with Board involvement and the decision was made to employ an Executive For Change to steer the company through the plan.
November 2006
Music Development Officer Sally Clay became the first professional disabled mainstream Musical Director in Scotland at The Tron Theatre.
February 2007
The Spotlight project started, a collaboration with The Royal Scottish Academy for Music and Drama. 15 Sounds Of Progress musicians started this music training course for adults with various learning and physical disabilities. The course is for those who have genuine musical talent and potential, with the aim to develop the participants into professional standard musicians.
April 2007
Executive For Change employed to take the company through the three-year Business Plan.
May 2007
Won an Arts & Business Scotland New Arts Sponsor Award of £40,000 through sponsorship from Cochrane and Henry who agreed to carry out the building work needed for the creation of the recording studio and offices at 73-77 Trongate. This will become a recording studio and centre for workshops through the Limelight project where Sounds of Progress groups and musicians will record their material and learn studio skills in order to increase their exposure in the mainstream industry.
August 2007
Blind Gurl and The Crips, a cabaret written by Sally Clay and Gary Robson won a Herald Angel Award at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival and received a Five Star review - "(it) will leave you feeling enlightened, humbled, moved, uplifted and, above all, royally entertained." The show played at Theatre Workshop for two weeks with Sounds of Progress musicians Bob Brown and Eddie Green playing in the band.
October 2007
Arts & Business Scottish Awards 2007 commended Sounds of progress for a New or Returning Sponsor Award for the partnership with Garwood Monitoring Systems.