Gypsy and Traveller Voices in UK Music Archives

Between March and July 2023, there is a vacancy for a freelance Project Associate, to write and design an accessible guide to the digitised online collections of Gypsy and Traveller music at the The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (VWML) . The resource should be aimed at Gypsy and Traveller users but will be accessible to anyone via the library website.

 VWML is collaborating with researchers from the University of East Anglia and the University of Sheffield to curate and develop awareness about the library’s collections of Gypsy and Traveller songs and music.

The Gypsy and Traveller collections held by the library consist mainly of private collections that have been given to the library; most relate to Romani Gypsies but there is also material relating to Irish and Scottish Travellers. Many have been digitised and are available on line but the library collections also include written and audio publications with Gypsy and Traveller songs and music that can be seen in the library and collections in other places.

There is currently no single register of Gypsy and Traveller material in the collections and some inside knowledge is required to find the right entries.

The Project Associate will write and design an accessible resource to the digitised online collections at the library. The resource should be aimed at Gypsy and Traveller users but will be accessible to anyone via the library website. Lived experience of, and/or deep connections with, Gypsy and/or Traveller culture and a passion for community access to culture and heritage collections are listed among the essential experience of applicants.
ProjectAssociate2023Download

The project “Gypsy and Traveller Voices in UK Music Archives” is led by Dr Hazel Marsh (University of East Anglia) together with Dr Esbjorn Wettermark (University of Sheffield) and the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library at Cecil Sharp House, London (English Folk Dance and Song Society). The aim of the project is to create resources that make the Gypsy and Traveller collections more accessible, particularly for Gypsy and Traveller people seeking engagement with their cultural heritage. Through collaboration we will highlight the richness and importance of Gypsy and Traveller music collections for communities themselves and the wider English folk scene.

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Storytelling, Education & Wellbeing

ACERT 2023 Conference promises to be an exciting event

Programme

Contributors

Live and online. Don’t miss it!

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Friday, 3 February 2023
10:00 – 16:00
John Lennon Art and Design Building (JLADB Space), 
Duckinfield Street,
Liverpool, L3 5RD

Chair for the day Richard O’Neill
  • Welcome by Baroness Whitaker (ACERT Patron) and Patricia Joliffe of Liverpool John Moores University
  • The development of the GRTSB Pledge – Sherrie Smith, Ruby Smith, Emma Nuttall
  • Implementing the pledge in schools – Paula Strachan, Jonathan Green
  • The importance of story and poetry – Oein DeBhairduin, Richard O’Neill, Mitch Miller, Raine Geoghegan
  • Improving mental health and wellbeing – Sheldon Chadwick, Candace Thomas, Sally Carr, Violet Cannon Smith
  • Community involvement – Rosa-Maria Cisneros, Lisa Smith, Oein DeBhairduin.

Our conference, seeks to address these issues from the perspectives of schools and communities. We will hear how the GRTSB Pledge is being implemented in Schools and Higher Education and the role of the communities in providing culturally appropriate resources for curriculum. We’ll discuss how we can extend its reach and impact, looking at the role of activists and governments.

Recognising how discrimination and exclusion can damage mental health, we’ll hear about work among Showmen and other Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities to recognise the issues and promote well-being.

Published story-tellers will share their work and we’ll preview new resources about Roma holocaust survivors. We’ll hear how Roma and Irish dancers have joined other communities in Coventry to share their stories with the wider community.

Finally, we’ll look at the failure of recent governments to recognise the barriers and challenges faced by families accessing their educational entitlement, and try to develop a framework for a campaign across all education sectors, in the run-up to the 2024 election, to reverse the pattern of exclusion, underachievement and discrimination.

Our rescheduled conference will focus on ways to recognise and respect the cultures and identities of all Romani and other Traveller communities. We’ll hear from the originators of the GRTSB Pledge, head teachers of schools implementing it and students who recognised the need for it.

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Health resources co-created with Roma Pupils

For six weeks, four Roma pupils from Fir Vale School (Sheffield, UK) worked closely with GPs, medical staff and other professionals to co-create resources that can be reused by different services and the NHS. The girls helped produce Child Vaccinations flyers, HPV flyers and a video diary on their own journey of receiving their HPV vaccines.

GP Roma Pupils Project

Sikavas tumenge sar pes džas  te očinel pro HPV (Romanes)

Cesta počas ktorej sme sa dali očkovat’ proti HPV virisu (Slovakian)

The Roma pupils also created two flyers that are Open Access and made with the intention to share widely and be reused by different services. The HPV Vaccinations and Children’s Vaccinations Flyers are downloadable below. The flyers are in three languages: English, Slovakian and Romanes.

Child-Vaccines-Info-ENG-Brochure-Poster-Portrait-A3Download

O Očkovanie Prekalo Čhave (Child Vaccine info Romanes)

Očkovanie Detí (Child vaccine info Slovakian)

HPV-flyerDownload

O INFORMACIJE PALO HPV (Romanes)

INFORMÁCIE O HPV (Slovakian)

For more information on this and other projects go to visit https://rosasencis.org

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Census 2021 findings

Main points

  • Participants’ accounts portray considerable variation in the individual preference for a nomadic lifestyle, which impacts personal circumstances such as access to services, employment and family relationships.
  • Close relationships with family were recurrently described as fundamental to Gypsy and Traveller values and well-being, but a move away from traditional lifestyles and, with this, greater separation from family, was felt to be occurring.
  • Diverse views were expressed on gender roles, with some stepping outside of what were seen as traditional gender roles among Gypsies and Travellers, and emphasising the importance of education for young women, while others valued arrangements described as traditional among Gypsies and Travellers, such as men being the primary breadwinners, while women are responsible for care of family members and the home, with their work outside the home flexing around these roles.
  • A range of experiences and relationships were described regarding non-travelling communities; some felt comfortable and accepted while others described past negative interactions resulting in wariness of the settled community and a preference for socialising with other Gypsies and Travellers.
  • As well as a sense of loss associated with an evolving culture, some participants focused on new opportunities for themselves and the next generation, embracing new ideas and values, for example, in relation to education, housing, healthcare and gender roles.
  • Running through participants’ accounts were experiences of perceived prejudice and hostility in many aspects of life, which influenced decisions about whether to disclose or avoid revealing their Gypsy or Traveller identity with employers, educators and non-travelling people; in some cases, the choice was removed and they were “outed” either directly by others or indirectly by their accent, address or surname.
  • Throughout discussions about sharing their identity, participants recurrently expressed a desire to be recognised as an individual, not on the basis of preconceived ideas about their ethnic group.

Download full report

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