Musician and disability advocate Tom Richardson is the Warrnambool Citizen of the Year.
Tom was recognised for his efforts in establishing the Find Your Voice Collective – an initiative that started as an all-abilities choir and has grown to become a place where hundreds of people have had the opportunity to express themselves creatively through music and other mediums.
Tom said what started with a single performance at the Port Fairy Folk Festival has taken on a life of its own.
“We first threw it out into the world in late 2017, early 2018, and every single year it’s grown in some kind of way.
“The name Find Your Voice Collective is exactly that, because it’s a community.
“There’s a 250 piece choir but we also work with 45 different artists every week who identify with a disability and try and make the creative arts as accessible as possible.
“The beautiful thing about the creative arts is it’s the most equal playing field on the planet.
“You can recognise and take pride in the disability and speak to it when necessary but also throw it out the window and just look at it from a human point of view.
“There are some original choir members who we’ve been working alongside for five, six, seven years now who are playing their own solo spots at the Port Fairy Folk Festival or creating their own clothing labels or whatever it might be.
“And that’s really where the magic from the big choir is distilled all the way down to legitimate individual career pathways, that’s what we’re trying to nurture.
“This award is shared equally with co-founder, Kylie Thulborn, and the entire Find Your Voice family, especially all of the people who are turning up every day to fill themselves up and then subsequently have the energy to be of service to somebody else.
“The Find Your Voice Collective is actively working towards flipping any power imbalance and putting authentic spotlights on artists and stories.”
Warrnambool Mayor Cr Ben Blain congratulated Tom on everything he and the Collective have achieved.
“What Tom and the crew at the Find Your Voice Collective have been able to build is just awe-inspiring,” he said.
“What started as a choir has evolved into a movement – a place where everyone can express themselves creatively and be embraced with open arms.
“The life changing impact Tom’s vision and work has had on program participants and their families is plain for all to see.
“While Tom has helped to improve the lives of hundreds of people directly, the Find Your Voice Collective has also played a huge part in changing the way our society views disability.
“It is heart-warming and inspiring and deserves to be celebrated. Warrnambool should be enormously proud of Tom, and it is my great honour to recognise him as the Warrnambool Citizen of the Year.”
Courtney Mathew has been named Young Citizen of the Year, The F Project’s Fabric of Life Festival is the Community Event of the Year and Ailiche Goddard-Clegg is the recipient of the Local Achiever Award.
The winners will be officially recognised at a ceremony at the Lighthouse Theatre on Tuesday January 23 from 6pm. The event will also include a Citizenship Ceremony, where 29 people will take the pledge and officially become Australian Citizens.
All are welcome to attend.