Listen Up! opens at City Lit with private view celebrating the power of listening

Last Thursday, The Evelyn Glennie Foundation welcomed guests to the private view of Listen Up! – our new residency and exhibition at City Lit in central London.

Bringing together around 40 guests, the evening marked an important milestone for The Foundation – the first major public articulation of the work and ideas that sit at the heart of our mission, to teach the world to listen.

Guests included funders, charity partners, artists, musicians, collaborators, Trustees and wider stakeholders, who gathered to explore the exhibition and hear reflections from speakers, including Dame Evelyn Glennie, Principal of City Lit Mark Malcomson, Founder of Cities and Memory Stuart Fowkes and The Foundation’s Chair, Gethyn Williams.

Created in partnership with City Lit and Cities and Memory, Listen Up! invites visitors into listening as an active, embodied and multi-sensory experience – something felt not only through the ears, but through the whole body.

The exhibition combines artefacts from The Evelyn Glennie Collection with selected contributions from Ways of Listening, an international creative project developed with Cities and Memory. Together, they explore listening as presence, attention, vibration, imagination and connection.

In her remarks, Evelyn reflected on the idea that listening is not simply something we do with our ears, but something experienced through the whole body and imagination. She spoke about how listening can shape the way we understand music, people and the wider world – and suggested that deeper listening is something all of us can develop and practise, regardless of hearing ability.

The evening also offered an opportunity to introduce audiences more fully to The Foundation itself and the ideas driving its work.

In closing, Gethyn Williams reflected on the growing importance of listening in a world full of noise, pace and fragmentation:

“We live in a world full of sound, but very little real listening. Hearing may be automatic — but listening can be an active choice.”

He spoke about The Foundation’s belief that listening is not passive, but embodied and relational – something that can create space for understanding, imagination and connection across education, health, workplaces and community life.

The residency builds on The Foundation’s mission, using exhibitions, workshops, partnerships and public experiences to encourage deeper and more meaningful listening in everyday life.

The exhibition itself features instruments, archive materials, photography, film and interactive prompts, alongside resources designed to help families and younger visitors engage with the themes of the residency. Listen Up! asks audiences to reconsider listening not simply as hearing, but as a creative and human practice that can transform the way we relate to one another.

This Wednesday, the residency continues with our special In the Round listening experience led by Evelyn Glennie – an intimate, invitation-only event exploring vibration, resonance and collective listening in a shared space.

Listen Up! continues at City Lit until 18 May and is completely free to visit, with resources available for families and younger audiences.

Read more about the exhibition and residency here.