Sophia is a talented singer and was a participant in Global Mash Up during October half term 2019. Hear what she has to say about how it helped build her confidence…

“I first heard about the Geraldine Connor Foundation when I went to see Caution Collective perform as the performers were talking about how Geraldine was an inspiration and helped them form their careers in music. I have singing lessons with Christella Litras who told me about Global Mash Up. Christella spoke to me about it during a lesson and said it would be a great opportunity to learn, gain more confidence and meet others with the same interests.

During Global Mash Up, I chose the music project as I wanted to learn more about performing, singing and song-writing. The best thing about the project was that I could learn about song-writing and performing and meet new friends. It gave me the chance to perform by singing and playing the piano for the first time in from of a live audience, which I really enjoyed.

Taking the initial firsts steps in was hard as I didn’t know anybody to start with. As I have suffered with anxiety in the past, I found it overwhelming at first. I soon became more confident and relaxed as everybody was really nice and friendly. The project has helped me with my self-esteem and gave me the confidence to perform more in front of others. I am now performing in a show at school called Grease where I have a singing and dancing role.

I will definitely be attending the next GCF project and look forward to learning new things and growing my confidence even more.”

The project has helped me with my self-esteem and gave me the confidence to perform more in front of others.

It is thanks to support from people like you that GCF can provide life-changing projects to young people like Sophia in Leeds. Please consider making a donation to help us continue to offer valuable, high-quality arts opportunities to young people.