This will be the first visit to India by a choir from Oxford University and is an incredible opportunity for the members of the choir to visit such a culturally rich part of the world. The College has exceptionally strong and meaningful links to India, with distinguished alumnae that include Indira Gandhi, India's first woman Prime Minister and Cornelia Sorabji, the first Indian woman at Oxford in 1889, and the first Indian woman lawyer to practice in both the UK and India. We are also the home of the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development which advances India’s sustainable development by bringing different academic disciplines and sectors together. The Centre develops future leaders by offering scholarships to exceptional Indian students to study at Oxford. As a result, we view this as a wonderful chance to explore and develop our existing links with this great country.
We will be visiting India in December 2018, to perform concerts and run workshops in Mumbai and Goa. The choir will run several workshops during our visit, and we are looking forward to taking part in activities with the Mumbai-based charity Songbound.
We will also be running educational workshops with students of The Karta Initiative, a social mobility mission which aims to widen access to world-class higher education and opportunity for brilliant low income students from developing and emerging countries. This will involve members of the choir talking to the students about their own subjects, different pathways and university life in general.
In addition to these workshops, we are thrilled to have an invitation to perform in the National Centre for Performing Arts (Mumbai), and we will give several other performances during our visit including at the Mehboob Film Studios as part of the Times Literary Festival, and the Church of St Francis of Assisi in Goa.
We would be extremely grateful for any donation, big or small, which will help us get to India. Our aim in this campaign is to make the tour more affordable to members of the choir regardless of background or financial circumstances. We already have raised a substantial amount towards the tour, including from choir contributions, support from Somerville College, generous external donations and our modest fundraising activities. By raising this amount of £10,000, we are able to bridge the final funding gap to make this tour financially possible for all members.
However, money isn’t everything. If you feel you would like to help in other ways, you could help us promote our crowdfunding page to friends, family, and online, so that we reach as many people as possible. Maybe you could share our posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or even just tell someone about us. Every little helps!