By Margaret Maccoll
As Alison Burnley was singing a Welsh lullaby to her youngest child the arts manager came up with the idea to create a Lullaby Ensemble.
With Regional Arts Development funding announced last week by Noosa Council her idea will become a reality.
“I am so excited about collaborating with local artists to pilot The Lullaby Ensemble,” she said.
“Mamas will learn folk lullabies from around the globe, singing to their newborns, creating sublime harmonies, unearthing their creativity and offering a much-needed opportunity to connect with new mums.”
Alison said whenever she attended mother and baby groups songs were sung such as the Wheels on the Bus and she thought it would be nice to create beautiful music that would be enriching for the mums.
Alison has been gathering together a collection of lullabies including ones from India and Nordic countries and hopes to include an Indigenous lullaby from the Gubbi Gubbi people.
She will be working with Noosa singer/songwriter Kate Anbeek who will be arranging the music.
Alison has long been involved in creating “experiential and ceremonial works that provoke the mind and awaken the senses”.
She has worked as a youth theatre director, studied Community Theatre at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts and co-founded multidisciplinary community arts organisation, Inside Out Arts.
Alison has worked as a producer for the BBC and as a freelance producer and facilitator and as a community engagement manager at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.
Since moving to Australia in 2013 she has worked on the programming team at The Edge at State Library of Queensland and produced work for Woodford Folk Festival, BrisAsia and Brisbane Festival.
“I’ve worked with the community before. You don’t have to sing well to be part of it. It’s beautiful what we can create,” she said.
Alison hopes to have the project up and running in October and the venue will be inside or outside depending on Covid-restrictions.
It will be free for mums with a donation for refreshments.
“It will just be somewhere for mums to go to sing beautiful music to their baby and meet other mums and not feel so isolated,” she said.
This is not Alison’s first venture involving mothers and babies.
When she became a mother she wondered how she could use her skills as an artist to support new mums and celebrate their journey of motherhood.
“Mothers the world over are nurturing their newborns, often in isolation and often at the expense of their own wellbeing,” she said.
So Alison began training as a postpartum doula, a non-medical role to support mothers after childbirth and The Mama Circle Sunshine Coast was born.
“The Mama Circle provides postpartum doula services alongside creative projects for new mamas,” she said.
“Whether you think of yourself as a creative soul or don’t think you have a creative bone in your body, The Mama Circle is for you.
“In its essence, it’s about you being seen for the amazing work that you do and nurturing you in the way that you need, at the time you need it most.
“I am passionate about nourishing, nurturing and supporting you by providing you with delicious meals for postpartum healing, rituals to honour your motherhood journey and a listening ear to bear witness to your story.”
