Music Therapists in Solidarity is a group of music therapists based in the UK who are committed to raising our voices in solidarity with oppressed peoples and our oppressed world, and using music in the service of social justice. We acknowledge that therapy (practice, research, and training) is inherently political - in that it exists within, and continues to uphold oppressive capitalist and neoliberal systems which have developed within historical, colonial, and political structures. As such we acknowledge our responsibility to challenge therapy's complicity in oppressive systems and work actively to maintain radical hope and foster change within our profession and the wider healthcare system.

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We are proud to have organised our first well-subscribed fundraiser in the service of mutual direct aid to families in Gaza, Palestine in November 2024. The response from the music and arts therapies communities and our families and friends was moving and encouraging. It was a clear message from the community that people desire opportunities to come together and engage in art and music as acts of solidarity. While fundraising in itself is an unsustainable method of meeting the urgent basic needs of peoples going through forced starvation, migration, and genocide, it is only part of what we do when we come together. In gathering and centring the voices and lives of our global family resisting oppression, we are also witnessing not just to their pain and suffering, but their resilience and triumph in the face of inconceivable horrors. We do our part to resist helplessness and channel our passion for justice into activism. And in, through and with music, we persevere and find joy.

 

We aim to organise more music events in 2025. While most of us are based in London, we are hoping to find partners outside of London who would be interested in organising events throughout the UK. If that person is you, or if you are simply intrigued and want to find out more, please connect with us.