Who we are
Our community
Seed Studios is a community made possible by local volunteers dedicated to using music to relieve isolation and improve wellbeing. People experiencing emotional or psychological distress, isolation or loneliness join our Seed Studios activity, and shape its development as members of our community.
Our volunteers have often grown from challenging times, through the community, to a position where they can give back to others. Many of these volunteers have progressed to join our board of trustees, managing our organisation and helping it grow.
Our trustees
Andrew Hodson
Chair of the Board and Founder
Andrew is Seed Studios’ founder, taking us from a community group in Bluesci in 2007, to a registered charity in 2017, and beyond to a vital mental health and creative resource for Trafford today.
Phil Handscomb
Trustee and Treasurer
Phil is an active user of our service, joining our Ukulele workshops, whilst also performing a vital role as our treasurer overseeing the charity’s financial controls
Lucy Power
Trustee and Volunteer
Lucy runs our Sound Explorers workshop, offering a weekly opportunity to explore free improvisation, as well as offering her skills from a background in arts management to support the charity’s development as a trustee
Our places
We work from our studios at the Old Trafford Wellbeing Centre in Old Trafford, Stretford and the Broomwood Community Wellbeing Centre in Timperley, Altrincham, which means our community is made up of local people living in these areas. To reach more people locally, we work closely with Bluesci who run our centres and deliver NHS CCG-commissioned support for local people experiencing emotional or psychological distress, isolation or loneliness.
We also work with a number of partner organisations to support local Trafford mental health, such as String of Hearts CIC, who we collaborative with to offer monthly workshops to older adults at risk of social isolation. As a charity in Trafford, we care about the local Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector and we are therefore members of the Trafford Community Collective and Old Trafford Community Collective.