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In Motion is our transformative 18-month artist development programme for original music creators at pivotal points in their careers. We support music creators to design and embark on the next chapter of their creative and professional journey, providing the space, personalised support, funding, networks and skills development to realise their ambitions, culminating in a final creative project for public release.

In this Q&A, we speak to In Motion 2026 creator Alex Hitchcock, a London-born saxophonist, composer, arranger and producer inspired politically and musically by the radical Black American tradition, reckoning with its history, struggle, resistance and reinvention.

How would you describe your creative process?

It’s changed a lot recently. I still write lots of through-composed music but I’m trying to write it in a way that the improvisation can infiltrate and colour the way we play the written material around it. Other than that I’m spending more time experimenting with layering and editing existing improvised material we’ve already recorded, and thinking about what restrictions or prompts might lead to interesting or unexpected improvising to generate more material. I have to take responsibility for setting some initial parameters, but otherwise I’m trying to share as much creative control with the other musicians playing with me as possible.

“I still write lots of through-composed music but I’m trying to write it in a way that the improvisation can infiltrate and colour the way we play the written material around it.”

Are there any particular themes, ideas or questions that you find yourself returning to in your work?

Knowing which musical decisions to be deliberate about and which to leave open-ended is becoming more important to me in composing, both as a way of reducing decision fatigue during the creative process but also in accepting that the way I hear the music will always be different to the other musicians playing it, or the audience. I’d like my music not to have particularly easy resolutions or answers and for a listener to be able to hold (and enjoy!) bits of musical information or layers that might be in tension. I think being able to include different approaches without necessarily having to neatly reconcile, reduce or simplify them is really valuable in both music and life in general.

If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

Working within the criminal justice system towards better and fairer conditions for people in prison.

“Even though we’re working independently it’ll be inspiring to see people making progress throughout, and I’ll feel accountable and want to push forward too.”

What are you looking forward to most about In Motion?

Being part of a cohort for an extended period of time, with people who are making really interesting work. Even though we’re working independently it’ll be inspiring to see people making progress throughout, and I’ll feel accountable and want to push forward too. One of the most important things for me in being motivated to take risks and be ambitious creatively is feeling that I’m part of a community doing the same thing, so it’s great to be brought together with other composers like this.

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