One morning in mid-March, citizens of Birmingham, England awoke to find 15 pianos scattered around their sad city with spray painted signs on them that read "Play me, I'm yours". The creator of the installation is Luke Jerram worked with the Fierce arts organization, "a collaboration renowned for getting odd things into odder places". In the past Jerram has "floated an orchestra in hot air balloons to awaken the sleeping city, and created a ghostly installation in an abandoned railway tunnel."
Some pianos were bought and others were donated - some are being played and some have been destroyed by the rain only to be saved by the creative minds of a few 5th graders who gave a new face to their ruined piano using paint, glitter and anything they could find.
One thing is certain - the pianos are bringing some happiness to a town riddled with unemployment and despair where in some neighborhoods 1 in 3 men has never had a job. When asked about the installation one woman who has worked in a flower stall for 47 years says the music "cheers the place up. … We need cheering up."
read the npr story
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