Le Foyer des Artistes and Alchemy Technology Services
The Context
Le Foyer des Artistes is an ensemble of musicians from across the world, united to share extraordinary music with everyone. They collaborate with celebrated names and emerging young artists.
Alchemy Technology Services is a global centre of excellence for insurance software implementation and professional services, supporting the digitisation of the insurance industry.
The Challenge
A central strand of Alchemy’s founding mission is to invest in the people and communities of the North West of Ireland by supporting economic regeneration and providing opportunities for personal and professional growth.
Raising aspirations and supporting people to fulfil their potential remains a core business objective today and the driving force behind Alchemy’s support of Le Foyer des Artistes (LEF).
The project with LEF supports Alchemy’s objective to attract and develop talent in the North West. By increasing access to world-class musical talent for their employees and potential future employees, they are playing their part in positioning Derry-Londonderry as a vibrant place to both live and work.
This project will also support Alchemy’s business objective to leverage the potential of the arts to engage with local communities, especially the next generation of business and tech sector leaders.
The Solution
Both partners believe passionately in the power of live music to transform people’s lives and they wish to share this experience with their entire community.
The LEF and Alchemy partnership aimed to increase the intergenerational reach of outstanding music in Derry-Londonderry to three times annually. By specifically targeting under-24’s, they focused on
● Raising aspirations and providing opportunities for personal growth to Alchemy’s future business and tech sector leaders.
● Improving mental health and well-being of a population disproportionately affected by transgenerational trauma.
The project aimed to do this by:
● Providing 30% tickets free-of-charge
● Opening rehearsals to the public before each concert, to allow audiences to gain further insight and deepen their appreciation of music and artists
● Prior to the three concerts, they offered workshops with select international artists to coach young people from the North West in singing and playing instruments.
● Together, Alchemy and LEF led facilitated sessions which brought Alchemy employees together with under 24’s to share experiences and inspire what it takes both in business and music, to forge an international career and fulfil your potential.
The Results
●Le Foyer des Artistes Concert Series at St Columb’s Hall 2023-24 Season saw three events featuring internationally acclaimed artists.
● 20 primary school students participated in the School-in Association programme and sang in the final concert.
● 20 teenagers from local schools attended a 3 hours singing workshop with an international artistic team during Young Singers Collective.
● Six young pianists attended a morning workshop with two expert pianists from London
● LEF collaborated with NWRC by engaging Events & Tourism, backstage production, and graphic arts students in their events
● They engaged with St John’s Primary School, Thornhill College, Lumen Christi College and Saint Columb’s College to integrate music students in the work of LEF.
This project extended the opportunity to benefit from world class musical experience to local communities, reflecting their commitment to inclusivity beyond their workplace. It also enabled Alchemy to play its part in positioning the North West as a vibrant place to live and work, creating benefits for business, employees and the wider community.
“The project with Le Foyer des Artistes supports Alchemy’s objective to attract and develop talent in the North West. By increasing access to world-class musical talent for our employees and potential future employees, we are playing our part in positioning Derry/Londonderry as a vibrant place to both live and work. This enables us to create a win-win for the local community, the arts sector, and our business. We value the unique qualities that make each of our Alchemists who they are. Our commitment to fostering a culture of inclusivity goes beyond our office doors, and we wish to live our values in the wider community. By embracing inter-generational and widening participation practices through this project with LEF, we measure positive impacts for our business, employees and their families, and the wider community.
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“Our partnership with Alchemy has enabled us to bring live music to nearly 2K people and over 250K digitally across our social media channels. It’s has also enabled us to partner with local schools and aspiring creatives to make so many people part of our story.
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