WOMEN’S CHORUS
The Women’s Chorus provides life-changing musical opportunities for women experiencing homelessness and poverty in Boston.
Since 2018, the program has engaged more than 100 women, ages 17-82 from diverse backgrounds through weekly rehearsals, voice lessons, and occasional performances. Each performance raises funds for a cause that the singers select.
The program serves as both a cultural home and a community, providing an opportunity for all who join to build self-esteem through making music together.
Women’s Chorus is proud to be partnered with Women’s Lunch Place, a non-profit day women’s shelter that strives to inspire hope and support the development of self-sustaining skills for women experiencing hunger, homelessness, and poverty.
HOW IT BEGAN
On May 12, 2018, a concert was produced by the Eureka Ensemble, of music entirely by women composers. One of the pieces was a new competition entitled “sheltering voices,” a Eureka commission by composer Stephanie Ann Boyd, based on a poem about the experience of homelessness for women. Two months prior to the concert, the Eureka team auditioned a small group of women from homeless shelters in Boston and Cambridge to learn how to sing in a choir and to learn the new piece. Each singer was called a Fellow and was to be paid a stipend for singing in the performance.
The concert was a great success and the courageous singers were rewarded with a standing ovation from an enthusiastic audience.
Follow up conversations uncovered a strong interest by all parties to build on the experience by creating a new permanent chorus made up of homeless women sourced from The Women’s Lunch Place, Pine Street Inn and Rosie’s Place.
There is a critical need for those experiencing poverty and homelessness to bring their voices to the public discourse, to increase their access to the performing arts, and to expand public awareness about the realities of homelessness. Our work offers a direct link to the performing arts and a chance for each singer to learn about and experience their own creativity and growth. This ensemble also serves as a unique therapeutic approach to healing and empowerment.
Sheltering Voices
