Youth group eyes better access to arts in Cambridgeshire thanks to Geri's Song
Tonight's show is in honour of former youth worker Geri Crooke
A Cambridgeshire show in memory of a youth worker is aiming to inspire more people to get involved in performing arts.
Musicians and entertainers will tonight perform at this year's Geri's Song event in March for Geri Crooke, an academy manager at youth organisation 20Twenty Productions before she died in a car accident in 2019.
Tom Harlock is one of the organisers of the show:
"It's a celebration of what Geri brought to the company - she brought great enthusiasm for young people experiencing the arts, music and drama, and we want people to realise that.
"I think the message of the show is to inspire, especially young people, to perform, whether it's drama, dance or music.
"Whether they end up doing it for fun, fantastic, but it's not just young people performing at Geri's Song; we have a mixture of local musicians and talent, and if there are more experienced entertainers, hopefully they will inspire the young people to carry on."
Improving access to the arts
Geri, 29, was an academy manager of 20Twenty Academy's youth theatres and youth volunteering programme and also helped mentor apprentices.
Her legacy is being continued through the Geri Crooke Foundation, which aims to support people from disadvantaged backgrounds access theatre and live performance.
Money raised from Geri's Song, now in its fifth year, will go towards the Foundation.
In the King's Speech earlier this week, ministers outlined plans to introduce the Advanced British Standard, which brings technical and academic routes into a single qualification.
The new qualification aims to cut the number of people studying what the King said are "poor quality university degrees and increase the number undertaking high quality apprenticeships."
Max Louth is creative learning programme manager at 20Twenty Productions and is hosting this year's Geri's Song show.
He believes better access to the arts in the Fens could unveil new talents for young people.
"We've had young people who didn't know they enjoyed arts and when we give them that opportunity, they realise they love it and they're very good at it," he said.
"The arts is very important even for things like wellbeing and improving mental health; it's a vital part to our community."