Debbie Wiseman's Pink Ribbon Gala Concert for Breast Cancer Campaign
"It's always a challenge finding the time and energy to promote fundraising events" says the talented and busy composer Debbie Wiseman MBE, "and my Pink Ribbon Gala Concert" in aid of Breast Cancer Campaign (BCC) is no exception".
The concert takes place on Sunday 8th November 2009 at 7pm at Cadogan Hall in West London and "as is usual for such events, I've had to sidestep as many of the usual promotional and administrative expenses as possible, in particular by asking friends to perform for free and calling in favours with industry partners."
|
|
|
|
|
As one of the UK's most prolific film and television composers, Debbie's list of "friends" includes performers such as Maureen Lipman, George Layton, Cherie Lunghi, Anthony Andrews, Martin Shaw, and Lyricist Don Black. Classic FM's Simon Bates will be hosting the evening, alongside the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, whos services Debbie has managed to secure for the concert.
Breast Cancer Campaign, which is a complementary but different charity from Breast Cancer Care, specialises in supporting research into a cure for breast cancer, and so all the money raised by the concert will go towards research funding.
| Useful Web Links |
"It's worth mentioning that the Pink Ribbon Gala Concert is not just about raising money, it's also about promoting and informing people about the work of the BCC" says Debbie, "for example, on the 8th November, we'll be projecting stories of the people affected by the disease on a screen above the orchestra. We want to bring home to people that charity is not just about facts and figures, but it's also about people's lives."
"Breast Cancer Campaign is a wonderful charity and I have done different projects with them over the years", explains Debbie, "originally I became involved because a friend of mine was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and it made me aware of how devastating the disease was both for her, and also for all around her. This diagnosis coincided with my being approached by BCC to take part in on of their Christmas concerts, which was a great success."
Since then I've taken part in various BCC events and have got to know the BCC team really well. As a result our collaborations, they suggested that rather than just taking part in concerts, I might like to organise a full BCC concert myself, and it's just developed from there".
With a foot in both the music and entertainment industries respectively, Debbie is perfectly placed to put the plan into action. Debbie studied piano and composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and her CV now includes a list of over 200 film and TV scores such as the music for Wilde (which won her an Ivor Novello Award), The Truth About Love and Tom and Viv for film, and for television, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Warriors (Best original score, RTS Awards 2000) and Judge John Deed.
It is no surprise then that she's managed to attract some of the best names in the industry to take part in the Pink Ribbon Gala Concert. "I spoke to Ian Maclay at the RPO about the project and he was not only supportive, he agreed to come on board and have the RPO take part in the concert. We are putting together an entertaining evening that is a mixture of words and music. In the programme we've included both well-known classical repertoire and poetry readings and we'll also be performing some of my own film music - I've also written a new song with the lyricist Don Black, so we have something special that will be performed for the first time."
"It's important for sponsors, and the audience, to know that none of the guest performers are taking a fee for the event - as mentioned before, I've had to call on lots of friends for a favour, and I'm incredibly grateful for their support. It's an amazing array of talent I've managed to gather together for the Pink Ribbon Gala on the 8th November."
"To attract an audience and to raise money for an event like this we have to offer them something interesting to come to - you have to differentiate yourself from everything else that is happening in London. With the range of talented artists we've got involved for the concert plus the variety of music and words we've got on offer, I think we've done that. Also, the tickets are at standard prices so we're asking the public to come as they would to a normal concert."
"For those who are interested, we are also offering premium VIP tickets at £65, which entitle the ticket holder to go to pre-concert and post-concert receptions where they can meet the stars and other patrons of the concert."
When you put on a fundraising concert like this, it's always important to look for ways to cut expenses so that as much money as possible can be given to Breast Cancer Campaign, We're keeping our promotional budget to a minimum by relying on the publicity machine of the RPO and the Cadogan Hall to attract and audience to the Pink Ribbon Gala.
"With such low overheads, we're hoping to raise as much money as possible for the concert. As to our target figure it is hard to say, but it would be a dream to achieve a five figure sum, possibly something around £20,000 - but it all depends on ticket sales of course."
this article is copyright protected. Morgensterns is licensed to reproduce it. No further copying is permitted without Morgensterns or the author's permission