Month: November 2022

Music in the Round’s NPO funding application confirmed by Arts Council England 

4 Nov 2022

Music in the Round has been successful in its application to Arts Council England for National Portfolio funding from 2023-26. Based in the Crucible Playhouse, it presents around 120 concerts a year in South Yorkshire and across the country, engaging around 25,000 people. Over the coming months it will finalise a three-year funding agreement with the Arts Council to deliver its activity of concerts and events for people of all ages, alongside projects in schools and supporting emerging musicians.  

Chief Executive Jo Towler said ‘We are really pleased to remain part of ACE’s National Portfolio so that we can continue bringing people closer to the music as we approach our 40th anniversary in 2024. It is fantastic to see that our partners at Goole Junction have received an uplift and that Black Lives in Music have joined the portfolio, and we are excited for what the future holds with this shift in funding to more places across the country.”   

Chair Jenny Dibden Stevens said “We are delighted that Arts Council England has continued to recognise and endorse the contribution of Music in the Round, with an investment for 2023 – 2026. We look forward to building on our successful partnerships and driving forward our exciting and innovative plans for the future.” 

The current autumn season includes two sell-out days of concerts for over 3,000 school and nursery children on 10 and 11 November and a sell-out concert celebrating the 150th birthday of celebrated composer Vaughan Williams. Music in the Round will also be staging its busiest day on record: on Saturday 12 November, its Crucible Theatre home sees a world premiere, two family concerts and a tango quintet featuring extraordinary accordionist Miloš Milivojević, as heard on the hit dancing show, Strictly Come Dancing, and the chart-topping Classic FM recording guitarist Craig Ogden. Later in the month their resident musicians, Ensemble 360, return for concerts in Upper Chapel and the Crucible Playhouse, where Sheffield Jazz and pianist Tim Horton will also be performing. Tickets are still available for many of these events. 

ENDS 

For more information and requests for interviews, please contact Music in the Round on 0114 281 4660 or email marketing@musicintheround.co.uk 

About Music in the Round 

Music in the Round (MitR) was established in Sheffield in 1984 by Peter Cropper and the renowned Lindsay String Quartet, who pioneered the idea of music performed and listened to ‘in-the-round’. When The Lindsays retired in 2005, we formed Ensemble 360, a group of 11 highly talented musicians who are at the core of all our activity.  

We are now the leading national promoter of chamber music, presenting hundreds of events in partnership with venues across the country for audiences of all ages, particularly in areas where there is little provision of professional live classical music, including Doncaster, Barnsley, Portsmouth and Barking & Dagenham. Our annual programme includes the nine-day Sheffield Chamber Music Festival in the Crucible Theatre each May, as well as activity across the city in unusual venues.  

Our mission has always been to ‘get people closer to the music’. Audiences do this by experiencing live music while seated in the round; musicians introduce themselves and the music they’re playing; and we also provide contextualising talks, participatory events and online resources as part of our programme. Although ‘in the round’ is defined through the physical arrangement of the audience sitting around the musicians, just a few metres away from amazing artists playing spine-tingling music with their heart and soul, fundamentally it is about connecting people to each other through music in a way that lives on long after the event. We present chamber music that is characterised by passion, excellence and proximity, through: 

• Ensemble 360, a world-class resident group of musicians
• outstanding visiting artists from a diverse range of musical genres
• a varied learning and participation programme for Early Years to Later Years
• a commitment to supporting the development of young audiences and musicians
• delivering hundreds of live music experiences in a collaboration with different venues and organisations across the country to thousands of people each year

Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. They have set out their strategic vision in Let’s Create that by 2030 they want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where everyone of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences. They invest public money from Government and The National Lottery to help support the sector and to deliver this vision. www.artscouncil.org.uk  

Following the Covid-19 crisis, the Arts Council developed a £160 million Emergency Response Package, with nearly 90% coming from the National Lottery, for organisations and individuals needing support. We are also one of the bodies responsible for administering the Government’s unprecedented Culture Recovery Fund, of which we delivered over £1 billion to the sector in grants and loans. Find out more at www.artscouncil.org.uk/covid19 

The Arts Council England’s 2023-26 Investment Programme headline data: 

• £446 million per annum of investment to bring art, culture, and creativity to more people, in more places, across the country  
• 990 organisations will receive a share of £446 million investment, including  
• 276 new organisations of all shapes and sizes  
• Each year, we’re investing £43.5 million in Levelling Up for Culture Places across the country   

Find out more on their website: www.artscouncil.org.uk/investment23