Our Environmental Mission
You can’t begin to talk about the Cornwall Youth Choirs (CYC) family without considering the challenges and history of this county. In addition to the spectacular coastline and deep-rooted Cornish heritage, which make Cornwall a popular holiday destination, there are other (seldom talked about) factors that shape its people, including the worsening environmental state of the county due to many factors.
#IWillFixYou
Environmental concerns have always been at the heart of what we do at Cornwall Youth Choirs. As part of the Music For Youth Proms held in the Royal Albert Hall in 2021, CYC chose to perform a very moving choral arrangement of Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’. Although not the original intention of the lyrics, it was felt that the song lent itself well to an alternative theme of loss due to ongoing environmental change and the need to protect things closer to home such as the Cornish coastline and seas.
#IWillFixYou has become CYC’s environmental campaign, ignited by Jonathan Wikeley's beautiful arrangement of ‘Fix You’. CYC’s success at the INTERKULTUR International Choir Competition came to the attention of Sir David Attenborough, who took the time to contact the choir and congratulate them on their musical success and environmental campaigning. The choir's efforts to raise environmental awareness through choral activity were recognised through a Special Award presented at the end of the competition.
Costumes
CYC singers practise what they preach, and look the part when performing. Their approach to sustainability, upcycling and repurposing means that costumes are custom-made from clothing from charity shops or online vintage stores. The shirts for CYC's most recent choir uniform were all sourced from charity shops and personalised with donated Cornish tartan. They are committed to wearing recycled fabrics at every performance. They have used netting and other discarded material donated by local environmental groups and businesses as the basis for recent costumes. A dedicated group of Friends oversee the creation and maintenance of these costumes.
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Other ways CYCs support their environmental mission
All the choirs across the CYC family take part in regular beach cleans, sharing their work with schools and Cornish environmental groups as well as key people in this field to promote environmental issues and awareness.
The CYC family have recently introduced a lift share scheme which not only helps our singers attend rehearsals, particularly those that live in more rural locations, but also reduces our carbon emissions.
We provide recycling bins at rehearsals to encourage all our singers to recycle their rubbish throughout rehearsal days.
Cornwall Youth Choirs singers continually make a conscious effort to work towards improving our environmental mission and reducing the negative impact we have on our local environment. We are proud to have such conscientious young people in our choirs who share a deep love for our county, the landscape and its environmental survival.
