Remembering Graham Dowdall

Colleagues across Social Therapeutic and Community Studies (STaCS), Anthropology and Music department are deeply sad to lose a much-loved colleague, Graham Dowdall, who passed away after a year-long illness. He was a treasured colleague and friend.

In STaCS, Graham brought his unique community arts expertise and energy as an experimental musician to our programmes in Community Studies and Therapies. He taught primarily on the MA Applied Anthropology with Community Arts – a programme shared with Anthropology -along with contributing to two other pathways on the same MA. He was an inspiring tutor to students on the community arts pathway and delivered workshops across the community arts, community development, and community and youth work pathways.

He also taught in STaCS for the BA Social Science, Community Development & Youth Work and the BA Social & Community Work. He wrote and taught a popular optional module on Arts in the Community as well as contributing workshops to other BA programme modules. His commitment to these programmes included his role as admissions coordinator with many BA students sharing how their first conversations with Graham fuelled their motivation to come to Goldsmiths.  

Graham also taught his inspiring music workshops on other programmes across STaCS including the MA Dance Movement Psychotherapy. Recently, he redeveloped his Arts in the Community BA module and submitted it to the Goldsmiths elective, opening it up to students from across the college. He was looking forward to teaching it to a wider group of students from next year.  

In Music, Graham taught Music Workshop Skills from 2014 - a continuation of his previous work in STaCS - inspiring and empowering many students to go on to work in the community or to train as Music Therapists. He also designed and taught the module Music in Educational, Community and Therapeutic Contexts which teaches students about these important forms of work in Music. 

Graham also developed, and taught for several years, short courses in community music which were popular training events that brought the public into Goldsmiths to learn from his experience and expertise.  

Graham continued his work with students across our departments throughout his treatment. His passion and energy remained undimmed by his illness – he often shared how much more he planned to do and inspired all of us who worked closely with him.  

Outside of Goldsmiths, as “Gagarin” Graham was a popular musician regularly touring and performing, transporting audiences with his distinct electronica sound. His most recent album dropped in February, and he was still gigging in April. Graham performed electronics with experimental rock group, Pere Ubu, collaborated with many prominent experimental musicians, after beginning his musical career as a drummer for the post punk band, Ludus. Alongside this, he used his community arts expertise to work with marginalised and vulnerable groups including children and communities with profound disabilities, with organisations such as Drake Music and Youth Music. 

Graham encompassed the radical creativity, experimentation, and commitment to social justice that Goldsmiths is known for – Goldsmiths will be lesser for this without him. 

Louise Doherty from STaCS, convener of the MA Applied Anthropology with Community Arts (and other pathways) shares the following message for Graham: 

"Your passion, creativity and wisdom was always there like a heartbeat or like a song, softly urging us on to better things… the joy of sharing practice and keeping making music was all that really mattered. Your sensitivity to and care of the students, pragmatism, strength and resilience in the face of challenge- a lesson to us all. I’ll miss you dear Graham, but I know you are in the Ether, floating on the soundscapes all around us, adding to the rhythm and the ambience of life- your work lives on. Rest in beauty, dear Graham."