We have looked at the budget through the lens of Making Music members, and there are a few points to draw to your attention. Orchestra Tax...
Making Music is delighted to announce it has been awarded a grant of £44,000 from the second round of the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund.
After a year of unprecedented disruption to leisure-time music, this grant will be timely in enabling Making Music, as its sector organisation, to continue its work supporting 3,500 member music groups across the UK, as well as advocating on behalf of the wider sector to help it pull through the pandemic and thrive.
Barbara Eifler, Making Music Chief Executive, said:
“The past 12 months have had a tremendous impact on leisure-time music groups, which has also been shared by Making Music as an organisation. We are therefore very grateful that our work and the importance of community-based music activity have been recognised with this grant.
It is especially wonderful that #HereForCulture in this instance means culture and creativity for and by everybody – the community choir and brass band, the amateur orchestra and the ukulele group, and all the other wonderful leisure-time music embedded in communities.”
More than £300 million has been awarded to thousands of cultural organisations across the country in this latest round of support from the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund, the Culture Secretary announced today.
Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, said:
“Our record-breaking Culture Recovery Fund has already helped thousands of culture and heritage organisations across the country survive the biggest crisis they've ever faced.
Now we’re staying by their side as they prepare to welcome the public back through their doors - helping our cultural gems plan for reopening and thrive in the better times ahead.”
Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair, Arts Council England, said:
“Investing in a thriving cultural sector at the heart of communities is a vital part of helping the whole country to recover from the pandemic. These grants will help to re-open theatres, concert halls, and museums and will give artists and companies the opportunity to begin making new work.
We are grateful to the Government for this support and for recognising the paramount importance of culture to our sense of belonging and identity as individuals and as a society.”
Since the onset of the pandemic, Making Music has been continuously responding to the needs of its members by creating a host of resources and online events to help groups stay connected both musically and socially. The Making Music Virtual Concert Series, featuring lockdown performances by over 100 leisure-time music groups of all types, genres and abilities, has amassed over 30,000 total views online.
As lockdown rules ease across the UK, this grant will enable Making Music to step up its work for members and the leisure-time music sector to ensure a smooth and safe return to in-person activity.
We look forward to helping leisure-time musicians to once again experience the joys and countless social, emotional and health benefits of live music making, and help the nation recover from a traumatic year.
Arts Council England has set out a strategic vision in Let’s Create that by 2030 England is a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish, and where everyone has access to a remarkable range of high quality cultural experiences.
Here For Culture is a movement that unites the public, government and cultural organisations in support of the UK's fantastic cinemas, theatres, music venues, museums, galleries and heritage. Join the conversation and show your support for venues and cultural activities in your community using the hashtag #HereForCulture.
