About us
Our work is built on the experiences and insights of our founder, Dame Evelyn Glennie, whose remarkable career as the world’s first full-time solo percussionist has given her a unique perspective on how to listen well.
Who We Are
The Foundation is a new, non-profit initiative which brings together Dame Evelyn’s distinctive approaches, her pioneering legacy and vast career archive to inspire active, receptive listening.
Our mission is to Teach the World to Listen, recognising that listening is a vital skill that transcends sound and fosters deeper understanding, connection, and empathy.
By championing active, receptive listening, we aim to empower individuals and communities to communicate more effectively, embrace diversity, and address challenges collaboratively.
Through innovative programmes, creative partnerships, and Evelyn’s inspiring legacy, we strive to create a world where listening is valued as a cornerstone for inclusion, creativity, and social transformation.
Our vision is of a society where the simple yet profound act of listening transforms the way we connect, communicate, and collaborate.
We imagine a world where listening is embraced as a fundamental skill, fostering deeper understanding, inclusivity, and empathy across diverse communities.
Through education, innovation, and advocacy, we seek to inspire individuals and organisations to harness the power of listening to create meaningful and lasting positive change.
By promoting listening as a tool for breaking down barriers and strengthening relationships, we aim to contribute to a more harmonious and socially cohesive society.
We believe in the power of listening to challenge stereotypes and redefine perceptions, especially around issues of disability, accessibility, and diversity.
By prioritising empowerment we encourage personal growth and professional development, fostering environments where individuals feel equipped to face challenges thoughtfully rather than reactively.
Our work values partnership and collaboration, engaging with charities, practitioners, and individuals who are drawn to the benefits of reflective listening.
Above all, we champion the idea that listening is for everyone and holds the potential to transform lives across all communities.
Listening is an activity that never sleeps; we all have the ability and opportunity to listen, but do we do so wisely? To define listening through the ears is limiting but to define it through our presence enables change. A society and culture strengthened through better listening would be truly inclusive, with nobody ‘left behind’ or ‘hard to reach’.
Dame Evelyn Glennie
Why listening matters
Developing our listening practice helps us overcome dated misperceptions of disability, age, class and accessibility, challenging us to reflect on our own culture of listening.
What would it mean not only to listen better to others, but to develop the faith to truly listen to ourselves? Perhaps to listen unselfishly, avoiding external distractions, developing new capacities that enhance our most important relationships.
How we promote listening
We partner with charities, practitioners and others to bring the benefits of better listening to all.
Some of our beneficiaries gain a creative or personal expression, our reflective listening practices helping to build their confidence and find their voice. Others use our approaches and insights to enhance their professional practice, deepening the quality of their therapeutic, educational or pastoral work.
Whether you’re inspired by the prospect of personal growth or developing your professional skills, all of our work focuses on empowerment – giving all individuals better control over the situations they face, creating new opportunities and building platforms that promote reflection over reaction.
Workshops and Events
We immerse participants in the world of listening, offering hands-on experiences designed to deepen their understanding and engagement with sound.
Our sessions are crafted to be interactive, fostering skills in attentive listening, collaboration, and creative expression, ensuring that everyone, regardless of age or background, can appreciate the nuanced beauty of sound.
Education
Our educational programmes are tailored to instil a lifelong appreciation of listening within schools, colleges, and wider communities.
We provide structured learning experiences that incorporate both theoretical and practical approaches, encouraging students to explore sound’s impact on their well-being, communication, and personal development.
Our goal is to inspire new generations to see listening as a vital skill for both personal and professional growth.
Public Performances and Community Outreach
Performance and outreach are central to our mission.
By bringing people together in shared listening spaces, we create opportunities for them to connect, reflect, and appreciate sound in unique ways.
Our programmes aim to make these experiences truly accessible, especially to underrepresented communities, reinforcing the importance of inclusive listening and cultural connection.
Digital Resources and Advocacy
We harness the power of digital resources and advocacy campaigns to broaden access to listening education and awareness globally.
Through online materials, social media, and video content, we share insights, tools, and stories that inspire people to embrace active listening in everyday life.
Our campaigns advocate for listening as a fundamental skill, fostering a global community that values and promotes the art of listening.
Why us?
There are already many ways to develop better listening skills – although Evelyn’s experiences as a profoundly deaf, world-class performer, combined with The Foundation’s unique intellectual assets, give our approach a valuable extra dimension.
Just as Evelyn has pioneered the integration of percussion into new contexts, The Foundation now looks beyond the boundaries of music and performance, drawing on the wider contributions she has made to society and culture, to unearth new value through better listening.
If you think a focus on better listening might enhance your own work, read more below about our partnership work, and get in touch.
What we are (and what we are not)
The Evelyn Glennie Foundation is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) registered in England and Wales, an entity distinct and separate from Dame Evelyn Glennie the performer.
Please note that we are not a ‘music’ Foundation. Music and percussion are simply versatile, accessible mediums at the forefront of contemporary culture, through which to explore better listening and connect with others.
Despite the lived experience of our founder and the importance of inclusivity to good listening, we do not focus exclusively on deafness, or even disability more broadly. We believe better listening practices can benefit everyone.
Finally, please be aware we deliver our work through our practical and intellectual assets only. We do not make grants or donations, or offer scholarships for musicians, performers or other practitioners.
Beneficiary Stories
Meet our Board of Trustees
Founder & Trustee: Dame Evelyn Glennie is the world’s first full-time solo percussionist. A double GRAMMY award winner and BAFTA nominee, Evelyn also composes for film, theatre and television.
Her life-long mission to Teach the World to Listen brings her distinctive listening practices, legacy and vast career archive together to inspire attentive, receptive listening, helping to create a society where communication and social cohesion are improved by the act of focused listening.
Founding Trustee. Georgina is a lecturer in the Department of Creative Arts, Media and Music at Dundalk Institute of Technology, where she teaches a range of subjects including musical theatre, music history, performance and theatre studies.
Georgina has performed extensively as both a solo and ensemble percussionist, and her passion for the art of percussion has since segued into research and academia. Her first book, Evelyn Glennie: Sound Creator, is a reflection of her interest in bringing the sights, sounds and sensations of percussion performance to a wider audience.
Trustee. Terry is a former Civil Servant who has worked in digital and technology roles across Government, at the Met Office and the Office for National Statistics as well as in magazines, newspapers and the national museum sector. He is a former member of the British Council Digital Advisory Group and as a Trustee for numerous charities.
Terry has Meniere’s disease, which has resulted in severe hearing loss, further igniting his desire for inclusion and fairness. He is currently the Director for Digital, Data and Technology at the Royal National Institute for Deaf People.
Trustee. Jo has worked for 40 years in both the public and private sectors, in roles from front line service delivery and management to software implementation and project management.
She has always recognised the critical importance of listening in and beyond the work environment and feels that now more than ever, in an increasingly pre-programmed, checkbox-based society, we need to pause, focus, listen, and allow new voices and perspectives to emerge.
Founding Trustee. After taking early retirement following a career in education, Caroline saw an opportunity to work with Dame Evelyn to begin the monumental task of sorting, cataloguing and preserving the instruments, artefacts and documents which have become known as The Evelyn Glennie Collection.
In the subsequent nine years Caroline has come to appreciate the potential of The Collection as a fantastic vehicle to promote our mission, to Teach the World to Listen.
Trustee. Simon has three decades experience as a leader in digital marketing, and currently manages a specialist WordPress agency renowned for its expertise in creating transformative digital solutions.
He is also a keen musician and spent the early part of his career as a Percussion Specialist. In joining The Evelyn Glennie Foundation his goal is to help amplify the power of deep listening, inspiring creativity and inclusivity across personal, professional, and digital spaces.
Chair of Trustees. Gethyn has worked in the UK non-profit sector for over 20 years, specialising in business development, partnership building and volunteering strategy.
His ambition for The Foundation is to bring an appreciation of the power of listening into the non-profit mainstream, applying our insights and approaches to the many different spheres of personal and professional life where they can bring transformative value.
