NOT LEAVING QUIETLY: Birmingham students visit European Parliament in Brussels to make a song and dance about how much they want to stay in the European Union, and call for urgent action to tackle the climate crisis.

On Tuesday 8th October, 60 young musicians from Joe Broughton’s Conservatoire Folk Ensemble played a rousing concert to the European Parliament. The concert highlighted young people’s concerns about Brexit and their desire to stay in the EU. #NotLeavingQuietly also featured youth activist Femi Oluwole and was attended by 30 young climate activists from the West Midlands region. The event was organised by Ellie Chowns, Green MEP for the West Midlands.

You can watch the whole concert here, with Layla speaking at 29:44 and Femi speaking at 34:20.

The Conservatoire Folk Ensemble’s #NotLeavingQuietly concert took place at the Yehudi Menuhin space of the European Parliament. It was the biggest live music performance in the landmark’s history, and saw spontaneous dancing from the audience of MEPs, media, parliament staff and campaigners.

#NotLeavingQuietly was hosted by Ellie Chowns MEP, who wanted to highlight the creativity and diversity of the West Midlands and give young people a platform to make their voices (and instruments!) heard. Since being elected as the first Green MEP for the West Midlands in May 2019, Dr Chowns has devoted much of her time in her constituency speaking to schools and colleges about the importance of the youth voice in politics.

Ellie Chowns said: “The West Midlands is an amazing region full of incredible creativity and diversity, and we want to celebrate that with this concert. Our young people have shown fantastic leadership in pushing politicians to take action on the climate crisis. They want their voices to be heard on the Brexit crisis too! So many of these activists and musicians weren’t able to vote in the Brexit referendum in 2016 – and many still can’t vote now. But both Brexit and the lack of action on climate change will have far reaching consequences that will affect them for years to come. It is so important we listen to them.”

The Conservatoire Folk Ensemble is made up of 60 musicians with links to Austria, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Scotland, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand and Wales – and a contingent drawn from the West Midlands. Their music is renowned for its energy, diversity and creativity, and has captured attention playing everywhere from concert halls to railway stations. One of the musicians spoke passionately for several minutes about how a No Deal Brexit would affect her personally, as her life saving medicines came from the EU.

Bandleader Joe Broughton said “For the last 22 years I have been welcoming students into the Folk Ensemble who originate from all over the world, and witnessing the power of their musical collaborations. I have seen, in such a blindingly graphic way, the benefits of people working together who have different life experiences, different cultures and different creative visions. Our British musicians are not outsiders in this process; they are creative, inspired and forward thinking. We all thrive on new ideas and new input, wherever those inspirations may come from. Through our music I want to send a strong message to our European friends that we are Not Leaving Quietly because we make a better noise together.”