Ishani Oconnor

Background

About Ishani Oconnor

My skills and training are focused on arts development, creative learning, fundraising, marketing and strategic management. I offer support for sustainable arts organisations, talent development and training, evaluation and impact, alongside business planning. I joined London Youth Choirs in the strategic role of Head of Engagement in May 2022. I am responsible for the growth and development of LYC Schools & Communities, an initiative that reaches out to the localities of our choirs bringing the joy and unifying power of singing to musically disadvantaged young people. LYC Schools & Communities expands LYC’s presence in nearly all 32 boroughs through singing assemblies, teacher CPD, inclusive Come & Sings and over 2yrs I have developed a programme for voice changing teenagers called ‘Positive Change Choir’ in partnership with music hubs in Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest. We celebrated LYC’s 10th Anniversary at a concert with a mass choir including 1,100 children and their teachers from 14 primary schools which I engaged, at Royal Albert Hall in 2023. I am the former Learning and Participation Manager for the Chineke! Foundation, Europe's first majority Black and ethnically diverse orchestra where I managed the Chineke! Junior Orchestra, nurturing the diverse talent of the future and take Chineke! professional musicians into schools to lead workshops in creative composition and perform participatory concerts. I developed and delivered on numerous creative projects in schools with partners ranging from Orchestras Live, English Heritage, Southbank Centre and music hubs and services across London and England. I work sensitively with diverse participating groups especially those who feel excluded or under represented. I was responsible for managing stakeholder data that contributed to programmatic, fundraising planning, including evaluation evidence which helped to secure £100k sponsorship from Bank of America. In 2017 I helped to establish a new charity Draper Together, for the residents of the Draper Estate in the Elephant and Castle neighbourhood. In 2016, I passed with distinction, an M.A. in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy from Goldsmiths, University of London and worked in 2015 as a Development Placement/Assistant with the London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT). My background and education are in Media and the Arts; TV Production, theatre and live music. I am interested in collaborative, cross-genre projects involving arts education, audience development, cultural entrepreneurship and socially focused performance.