Today we are delighted to announce that London Chamber Orchestra, Music Theatre Wales and Open Up Music 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 our Co-Heads of Artist Development:
- Will Dutta at: will.dutta@soundandmusic.org
- Hannah Bujic at: hannah.bujic@soundandmusic.org
Elise Campbell, Marketing Officer and Diversity, Inclusivity & Equality Officer at LCO, said,
“We are proud to join Fair Access Principles because inclusivity is part of the core ethos of LCO. We feel that there is a place for everyone in classical music, and it is our job to ensure that everyone feels welcome, and there are no barriers to entry or progression which allow some demographics to thrive and others to be sidelined. We want our LCO New project to be a positive experience for everyone even if they are not a successful candidate. As an organisation we are keen to have open and constructive conversations to assess the steps we have taken, and how we can continue to improve in all areas of equality, diversity and inclusivity.”
Michael McCarthy, Director of Music Theatre Wales, said,
“Our ambition at Music Theatre Wales is to be a force for change: to challenge opera’s tendency to cling to the past by forging a new and different direction of travel for the future of the art form. We are committed to removing barriers to access and are proud to adopt Sound and Music’s Fair Access Principles as part of our mission to explore how opera can embrace a wider range of artistic influences, and to champion artists who historically have been excluded or ignored by opera.”
Barry Farrimond MBE, CEO of Open Up Music, said,
“Diversity, equity and inclusion are at the heart of who we are and what we do. We recognise that systems of privilege, structural disadvantage and barriers to participation are real, profoundly felt and often intersecting. But we also know that they are not fixed. And we take our responsibility to acknowledge, challenge and dismantle barriers within music and our organisation extremely seriously. To that end, we are proud to adopt the Sound and Music Fair Access Principles and wholeheartedly encourage other organisations to do the same.”
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