It all started with a speech at a wedding….

The inspiration behind StarJam came from a speech.  A speech from a special person that had a profound impact on the people around him.  That person was Ross Moses.

Ross is the younger brother of Julie Bartlett, who, together with her husband Roy Bartlett, started StarJam in 2002. Before StarJam, Roy and Julie had a combined 30 years experience working for not-for-profit organisations, primarily in the area of disability.

Ross, who has Down Syndrome, made a speech on Julie and Roy’s wedding day, which left all the guests in tears. Following this incident, all Julie and Roy’s friends had a new attitude and respect for him. This became the inspiration for Julie and Roy to create a project where everyone could experience this transformation.

StarJam’s purpose was to create events and environments where people with disabilities could have the opportunity to express their gifts and talents and the general public could have the experience of being the recipients of those gifts and talents. The concept was put to the test for the first time in April 2002 when Julian Lloyd Webber, on a concert tour in New Zealand at the time, was invited to Jam with Katherine Rees, aged ten.
StarJam held its first monthly gathering for young people wanting to be involved in August 2002 and was launched on November 3rd 2002 with the inaugural “Stars Thru Their Eyes” show, which featured eight young people interviewing celebrities.

Since the launch, StarJam has now produced eight major shows, performed at more than a dozen special performances for conferences and events, and taken a number of young people on ‘jamming’ trips to the USA.  A Talent Expansion Programme of weekly music and performance workshops was started in April 2006 and now there are 12 workshops taking place each school term in Auckland and Whangarei.

Numbers have grown from 12 who participated in the original launch of StarJam, to more than 400 young people who have since been involved.

A big Thank You to Patrick Bellett for his photography which is featured on this site.