Today we are delighted to announce that London Sinfonietta, Nonclassical, Jazz North, Cryptic, Launchpad and Live Music Now have joined as the latest partners in signing up to our Fair Access Principles.
Developed through consultation with a broad range of composers and organisations, Sound and Music’s Fair Access Principles are designed to act as a code of best practice for running successful, open and inclusive artist development programmes, competitions and awards for composers.
In signing up, these organisations are committing to enact the Fair Access Principles across their work over the next two years. We recognise that organisations will need time to think about and implement changes within their programmes.
We’re actively looking for more partners to join us in committing to these principles. Find out more about how to get involved by emailing Co-Head of Artist Development, Will Dutta at will.dutta@soundandmusic.org
Andrew Burke, Chief Executive & Artistic Director of London Sinfonietta, said, “We have been committed to making new music for over 50 years. The Ensemble has offered out over 450 commissions and had many hundreds more commissioned for it. We welcome change and innovation, and seek to evolve all parts of the organisation to respond to the society and communities we work to serve.
Over the past few seasons we have deliberately shifted our commissioning practice to ensure we reach an equal balance in the number of works offered to men and women each season, and we are now working to move our commissioning and programming profile to be more representative of composers who are black, asian and ethnically diverse. In a landscape of positive and overdue change we are very happy to sign up to Sound and Music’s Fair Access principles such that access to our composer development schemes is as open and equitable as possible.”
Natalia Franklin Pierce, Executive Director of Nonclassical, said, “Supporting emerging artists is at the heart of Nonclassical’s work across our events, record label and artist development programmes. Since being founded in 2004 by composer Gabriel Prokofiev, we have taken classical music out of the concert hall and into unusual spaces, reaching diverse audiences across the UK and beyond.
We want to ensure that the artists that we work with reflect modern Britain. In signing up to Sound and Music’s Fair Access Principles, we’re making a commitment to continually question what more we can do to welcome artists from all backgrounds into our organisation.”
Heather Spencer, Programme Manager at Jazz North, said, “Jazz North is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion across all that we do. We believe that everyone should have access to jazz and are committed to breaking down barriers in our sector. As an organisation, we feel we are well aligned with the Fair Access Principles and are thrilled to be working with Sound and Music to help improve the accessibility of our programmes. We believe working collaboratively is the best driver for change and look forward to better representation through cooperative commitment to the Fair Access Principles.”
Caroline Thompson, Head of Access, Participation and Evaluation at Cryptic, said, “As an arts organisation, Cryptic believe that inclusion, diversity, equality, accessibility (IDEA) and creativity go hand in hand. Their influence on our sense of identity and our life opportunities is at the heart of all that we do. Sound and Music’s Fair Access Principles provide an opportunity for us to develop our commissioning and programming practice in a way that resonates with and has relevance for our ambition to be an inclusive organisation and we value the learning that will emerge from this collaborative network of organisations.”
Jon Foulger, Project Coordinator at Launchpad, said, “We are passionate about providing an open and inclusive artist and project development programme. By agreeing to the Fair Access Principles we hope to send a clear statement to everyone who engages with Launchpad, as well as to the wider sector and music industry, that we are committed to the ongoing evaluation and improvement of our practice, enabling us to provide equality of opportunity for all.
We believe in the importance of communicating clearly what values we stand for and the Fair Access Principles will help us to do that. We also believe that positive change comes about through collaboration and shared values and are excited to be part of the conversation that Sound and Music have started with their Fair Access Principles.”
Nina Swann, Executive Director of Live Music Now, said, “We value diversity and inclusion very highly at Live Music Now. For this to be realised in practice we recognise that we should not only reflect the diversity of the world in which we operate, but also be actively welcoming and inclusive of that diversity, making it possible for all to contribute to, and be valued within, what we do. We know we need to be proactive to make this happen, working to remove barriers to inclusion where we see them, including in our own ways of working, structures, attitudes and activity; asking ‘how do we exclude?’. Becoming a Fair Access Principles partner is a significant step in our organisational inclusion journey.
We are committed to taking action to progress our journey so that our commitment to D&I is holistic and reflected in the values, people, structures and activity of Live Music Now, from the Board, senior management, through the team to the musicians; in our recruitment, our language and the way that we design and deliver our work.”
Meet all of our Fair Access Principles partners
Sound and Music’s Fair Access Principles are designed to act as a code of best practice for running successful, open and inclusive artist development programmes, competitions and awards for composers. (The definition of “composer” varies between organisations; at Sound and Music we mean “anyone creating their own music, in any style or genre”).
Sound and Music has developed the Fair Access Principles through consultation with a broad range of composers and organisations, as well as from our experience of running open call programmes.
Composer and founder of Manasamitra, Supriya Nagarajan, said, “The Fair Access Principles that Sound and Music have put forward are long due… I hope more and more organisations look at it and take it up, because that will boost the music sector like nothing else.”
Read our Fair Access Principles
Learn more about our Fair Access Principles and partners
Contact us about getting involved