Corporate Social Responsibility - Director’s Statement
Since the Companies’ incorporation in 2017, Voice Study Centre (formerly Voice Workshop) has evolved with the principle of Corporate Social Responsibility at its centre. Last year, we ploughed 5% of our pre-tax profits back into the community.
This is 4% above the top 100 FTSE firms and we are looking forward to engaging in further philanthropy this year.
What is corporate social responsibility?
Corporate social responsibility refers to business practices and initiatives that seek to positively benefit individuals and sectors outside of the company’s own interests. These can range from philanthropic efforts such as private donations to long-term partnerships with public sector organisations that target areas of social inequality. Within the last few years, greater attention has been called to the private sector’s relationship with the public sector and the responsibility to become involved in addressing wider societal challenges. This has resulted in a growing community of corporations committed to engaging with a varied range of causes.
Voice Study Centre and Corporate Social Responsibility
Voice Study Centre remains engaged with individuals and the wider community through furthering causes that they are passionately committed to. This has resulted in the development of the company’s corporate social responsibility policy, targeting causes that they feel need wider private sector attention. Voice Workshop is proud to widen its commitment to the arts sector in particular.
Higher Education
The director of Voice Study Centre has long been committed to the concept of furthering access to higher education from those whose backgrounds may not have traditionally allowed them to do so.
As of September 2020, we are integrating a Foundation Course into our higher education programmes. The Foundation Course is designed for students who do not have the necessary qualifications to be eligible for the MA programme and facilitates the development of academic skills through dedicated 1:1 support.
Throughout this course, we commit to intensively tutoring students so as to minimise the academic and financial cost of non-completion. Upon course completion and conditional upon a student submitting the essay to be marked and graded as passed, the student will be able to enrol on the Voice Study Centre/UWTSD MA.
The Foundation Course fee will be deducted from the full cost of the MA and the graded essay will be allowed as submitted work. This means that academic work from the foundation course will be carried on to the next stage of a student’s higher education.
Bursary Scheme
Voice Study Centre is committed to supporting communities and projects within the arts sector. To this end, Voice Study Centre’s Bursary Scheme will be established, in order to create alliances with projects that align with the Voice Workshop’s own work and values. Details of the Bursary system will be released shortly.
Covid-19
During the Covid-19 pandemic, we recognised the need to be more engaged with the arts community during this difficult time. To alleviate musician poverty, we ran 7 live Voice Geek webinars and raised over £3,000 for Help Musicians. Those who presented were paid £100 for an hour’s workshop and the total payback to the community was £3,700.
We also funded the Singing for Stroke online choir and gave a Bursary to a student in need. We hope to continue with this initiative and Voice Study Centre will remain engaged in supporting the arts sector during Covid-19.
During the second UK lockdown, we hosted a charity workshop in aid of the Voices Foundation, we raised a total of £691 for the organisation.
Staff Development
Voice Study Centre is passionate about education being used to further personal and professional development, not only for our students but for our staff.
In July 2022, our Marketing Officer completed a Level 6 Diploma in Digital Marketing with the Chartered Institute of Marketing. This qualification was fully funded by Voice Workshop, and we are proud to support Tegen-Sophie in the development of her career.