Music tuition for 70 disadvantaged London children

The winter months have kept our young musicians and teachers engaged with plenty of inspiring music-making at both our World Heart Beat venues in South London. In 2023, we supported 446 students; held 6,634 music sessions; provided 6,411 hours of music tuition; and staged 88 concerts attracting 5,000 audience members, with over 700 musicians performing; figures worth shouting about as we journey into 2024!  

Hot off the press this week, we are delighted to win best Charity/Social Enterprise as part of the Wandsworth Women’s Enterprise Awards 2024. Sahana Gero MBE, Founder and Artistic Director founded World Heart Beat in 2009 to address the lack of affordable music tuition available to disadvantaged young people, and to open up career pathways into the music and wider creative industries. Through hard work and considerable funding, as well as winning a bid to become a cultural anchor for Nine Elms, we provide opportunities and help transform the lives of some of the most deprived, ethnically diverse, socially polarised and poorest neighbourhoods in the country.   

We’re also overjoyed that the Mayor of London has chosen Wandsworth to become London Borough of Culture 2025. We're proud to be part of this diverse and ebullient borough, and to play our part alongside other thriving arts and culture organisations by continuing to deliver an exciting culture programme to our community, residents and businesses.  

On January 23, we marked the first anniversary of the opening of World Heart Beat Embassy Gardens. With heartfelt speeches from Sahana and live performances from our young musicians, it was a jubilant and celebratory evening for all. We also launched our new Membership Scheme, giving people the chance to become part of a community that believes in the transformative power of music and which positively impacts the lives of young people living in South London.  

We also held our Music Industry Day, partnering with music technology giants d&b audiotechnik, White Light and Notting Hill Music. With the support and generosity of these industry maestros, the event was a great opportunity to showcase live our ground-breaking 200-capacity concert hall and recording studio, as well as our immersive d&b Soundscape system to an audience of musicians, audio engineers, songwriters, performers and artists. Our brilliant young musicians performed alongside a demo to help the audience understand the capabilities of this latest sound design, as well as the chance to network with others in the wider industry.   

We also held a 'Recording and Mixing with Headphones' Masterclass with iFi Studio, maker of pro audio products, and Solid State Logic, the world-renowned console manufacturer. Hosted by legendary engineers, Stuart Bruce (Band Aid, Stevie Wonder, Madeleine Peyroux), and Gary Langan (Art of Noise, Queen, ABC) audio tech was put to the test whilst our jazz trio (Ayo Vincent, Ezekiel Ajie and Wilf Cameron-Marples) performed to 60 invited guests, including established and newly emerged engineers and producers and music technology students. People loved the energy, creative buzz and vibe, and the masterclass from the legends on different mic techniques and playback through headphone amps, and how they can be used in a creative environment. We are delighted also that iFi Studio have since selected World Heart Beat as their Charity Partner for 2024!  

 As if one Charity Partnership wasn’t enough, we have also been chosen as Charity Partner 2024 by Formation Architects (based in nearby Oval). They will support World Heart Beat throughout the year, arranging several different fundraising schemes to help raise much needed funding for a new CRM database, Podcast Room and to support students on our Celtic Fiddle Programme. We are looking forward to the development of this partnership, which will bring creative and volunteering opportunities for their staff and fun projects, particularly around the environment for our students.   

Thank you for your generous support. If you haven't yet visited World Heart Beat Embassy Gardens, please do join us at one of our many spellbinding concerts, showcasing the best in musical talent, or find out more about our community events. You will be most welcome!  

Finally, we’d like to share with you a glowing article from Fiona Maddocks at The Observer, who reviewed percussionist-composer James Larter’s concert at World Heart Beat Embassy Gardens (full article here)  

‘This is the kind of priceless cultural legacy that gives pride to those 5 to 25-year-old local people who walk through the doors as equals. The enterprise could be a blueprint for every comparable urban community’.  

Fiona Maddocks, The Observer 3/2/24