Bill Drummond is a patron of the Haiti Earthquake Fundraiser @ The Roundhouse. His involvement in the event will evolve. What is known is that he has written a piece for the event's website - to read it click here. It is also presumed that on the night he will say a few words about The17 in Haiti, before leading the audience through a performance of the world premiere of Score 357: LOUDER & LOUDER

More information to follow.

L'Ecole Guillaume Manigat, the school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti where The17 performed during the week before Christmas was in the worst hit area of the city. It was in one of the poorest areas of the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. The school had next to nothing already, now they will have less than nothing. This school was for the poorest of the poor. And yet they were all bright eyed and enthusiatic performers with The17. They were smart, intelligent and had a thirst to learn. They were welcoming of us and open to all the ideas that we were working on together.

As yet we (John Hirst, Tracey Moberly & Bill Drummond) have not been able to learn any news of the school, the pupils or the members of staff -  but we fear the worst. As soon as we know we will put a new News item on this site, to let you know.

The performance in Port-au-Prince was twinned with a performance of the same score at Kingswood Comprehensive, Corby, UK in November 2009. We showed them a large print of a photograph of the young folk from Corby. From seeing this they were eager to learn what the pupils in Kingswood were like and how they performed and what they wore and how they talked and what music they listened to.

After their performance we had a photograph taken of them holding the photograph of Kingswood photo. To view photograph click here

Next week we will be going back to Kingswood to talk to the pupils there, show them the photograph of all the pupils in Port-au-Prince holding the photograph of them. We have also  set up a fund in association with the pupils of Kingswood to raise money specifically for L'Ecole Guillaume Manigat. Click the donate button below to contribute. All funds received (minus PayPal fee) will go directly to L'Ecole Guillaume Manigat. This is to be a long term project between The17 and this school and is not an alternative to the work being done by other charities and agencies who are dealing with Haiti's intstant need for food, water and medicine.  If you are interested in learning more about this fund please contact admin@the17.org

Photograph taken by Tracey Moberly: L'Ecole Guillaume Manigat, Port-au-Prince, 15 December 2009

The17 have been invited to perform at the first Ghetto Biennale in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

The Ghetto Biennale - A Salon des Refusés for the 21st century - is being hosted by the Grand Rue Sculptors of Port-au-Princ

The17 will be performing a version of Score 7. COLLABORATE with all the pupils of L'Ecole Guillaume Manigat in the Grand Rue, Port-au-Prince. This performance will be twinned with a performance of the same score at Kingswood School, Corby, England. Both the Port-au-Prince and the Corby performances are part of The17’s Coast-to-Coast world tour.

The17 will also be performing Score 324. NIGHTCLUBBING at a Voodoo temple in the city. This performance will be part of the City-to-City world tour.

Learn more about the Ghetto Biennale and the Grand Rue Sculptors.

No Music Day is on 21 November

No Music Day 2009 is year five of a five-year plan.

Linz, Austria, in its role as European Capital of Culture (2009), elected to host the fifth No Music Day as part of the cities Hörstadt (Acoustic city) Initiative . To know what this Hörstadt Initiative is visit www.hoerstadt.at

To know more about No Music Day or make your statement visit www.nomusicday.com

The17 were invited to perform at the 10th Open International Performance Art Festival in Beijing, China, this August.

The performance they gave was of Score 328 SURROUND and took place on 14 August 2009. This performance is part of The17’s Coast-to-Coast world tour. This performance was twinned with a performance of the same score in Northampton, England, that took place on 14 March 2009.

The members of The17 taking part in this performance were made up of 100 Beijing market stallholders.

Read a full account of The17’s performance in Beijing, written by Bill Drummond.

View the 100 Beijing market stallholder members of The17.

View Score 328 Surround in Chinese.

View the Imagine Graffiti made by Bill Drummond on the side of a gas tank in Beijing.