The Choir with No Name empowers people with experience of homelessness and marginalisation to find opportunities to shine, to grow in personal resilience, and to build positive, joyful singing communities.

Our core aims

  • Create opportunities for people to shine

  • Build safe, positive, joyful communities

  • Improve personal wellbeing & develop skills

  • Share quality music making experiences

Our values

Family

Many of our choir members describe their choir as their family.  We aim to look after each other, and we retain our family feel through all of our work, including with external stakeholders and supporters.

Fun

Belting out classic tunes, sharing delicious food and finding somewhere to leave our troubles at the door is what we’re all about.  We want to empower our choir members to achieve serious change in their lives, but without taking ourselves too seriously!

Inclusion

We are a warm and welcoming organisation and we want to be equally welcoming for everyone, regardless of background, characteristics or idiosyncrasies.  We want everyone involved in the Choir with No Name to feel they belong in our community.

Integrity

We will be fully transparent in all our work.  We won’t claim to have more impact than we do.  We will work hard and strive for excellence and ensure that the wellbeing of our people is central to all our decisions.

TRANS INCLUSION STATEMENT

A message from our CEO, Kate.

In the light of recent events, I wanted us as an organisation to take an opportunity to reaffirm within our community, and for those thinking about joining our community, that we work hard to make the Choir with No Name a welcoming and inclusive environment for all, and that includes trans people.Our members have experience of homelessness and marginalisation. Around 25% of all trans people have experienced homelessness at some point (1).

Traditionally, choirs can also be inherently gendered places (for instance referring to the sections as 'men' and 'women' or requiring gendered uniform - things I'm pleased we try to avoid at CWNN).

Experience of transitioning can have profound impacts on an individual's voice as well as having many other implications on experience of singing in a choir. 4% of our members defined themselves as transgender in the last member survey, and 3% as non-binary. We also have valued non-binary people amongst our community of staff, trustees and volunteers.

To trans people with experience of homelessness and marginalisation, you are welcome here.

(1) https://www.crisis.org.uk/ending-homelessness/about-homelessness/about-lgbtqplus-homelessness/