National television debut for lottery-funded stars
"Quiet please. Three, two, one…. And we're live on national television!" Magical words for any performer and that's just what four lottery-funded projects heard seconds before appearing live on prime-time TV.
The talented performers were selected from thousands to appear in a live TV mash-up broadcast to millions on Saturday night’s National Lottery Live on BBC One.
One such performer was 19-year-old Connor Budd, from AudioActive. Connor, aka HUSK¥, is a producer from Brighton whose style fuses elements from Trap and Hip-Hop to Grime and Future RnB. Established in 2004, AudioActive provides creative and musical experiences to young people throughout the South East. Specialising in music technology and urban performing art forms, the project creates opportunities for young adults to develop skills for life (www.audioactive.org.uk).
Collaborating with AudioActive was DU Dance from Belfast, which introduces young people to dance and have established a youth dance group, Sutemos, to combat social exclusion. The group helps young people who've felt isolated by their cultural identity (www.dudanceni.com).
Also live on stage was Nottingham-based dance organisation Dance4 - picked to appear with Welsh choir Sing With Us in a special collaboration to celebrate lottery-funded arts projects and organisations. Dance4 offers young people access to dance and enables people from all backgrounds and abilities to learn the importance of equality and inclusion in dance (www.dance4.co.uk).
And rounding out the talented line-up was Sing With Us, a lottery-funded project with 15 choirs across Wales. The choir members have all been affected in some way by cancer and being part of the group they all help to support each other - and have a great time singing to boot (www.tenovuscancercare.org.uk).
Rosie Dow, Head of Sing with Us, said: "Dealing with cancer can be frightening and stressful, so going to our Sing with Us choirs every week to meet people and learn a new skill has been life changing for so many people.
"We're delighted to be asked to be part of the Draw Show. It's a great opportunity to show people what we’re about as well as saying a big thank you to the lottery. I can think of no better incentive to play the lottery than seeing how much good the money does."
The National Lottery has been changing the lives of winners and supporting good causes across the UK since 1994. In that time, there have been more than 7,400 new millionaires created and by playing The National Lottery you raise over £4 million for Good Causes every dayΔ.
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