London Sinfonietta responds to ACE funding cut

London-based contemporary chamber orchestra London Sinfonietta has released the first wave of its upcoming 2023-24 season alongside a statement responding to the 41% cut in the orchestra’s funding from Arts Council England (ACE) announced as part of the council’s 2023-26 investment portfolio in November 2022.

Following a season launch in Finland, 30 years after the orchestra’s last performance in the country, the ensemble are set to travel to China for the Beijing International Music Festival before returning home to complete the season. The upcoming season will also see London Sinfonietta receive funding from ACE’s Transform programme, designed to help organisations adapt to reduced funding from the council.

As well as expressing gratitude for this funding, in a statement released on the London Sinfonietta website, chief executive and artistic director Andrew Burke said: ‘We will probably always disagree with the scale of the cut we received in the last funding round. It has significantly undermined our business model and suggests a lack of understanding about the time and costs required to commission and produce large-scale contemporary music projects and programmes of public engagement; as well as for training early-career composers, musicians and conductors.’

The orchestra will receive £468,681 over three years, around 75% of the organisation’s funding from ACE in previous years. Burke confirms that, while some of this will be spent ‘on underwriting existing short and mid-term commitments… most of it must be used to evolve new sources of income.’ In its upcoming season, London Sinfonietta begins this process, building foundations for global relationships through performances with organisations across the globe including Finland’s Time of Music Festival in (4-5 July), Beijing International Music Festival (October), and Bærum Kulturhus in Norway (1 November).

Burke is determined that this funding cut will not diminish the orchestra’s goals. He said: ‘We will commission and curate projects that can tour more often and reach wider audiences online, and we are developing new income streams from partners, businesses, trusts and individuals… We will not step back from our commitment to education, participation and talent development: these programmes remain central to our strategy, passion and purpose.’

As well as an investment in future talent through its Writing the Future music creation scheme, which will end its fourth series with a world premiere from Nwando Ebizie in November this year, the 2023-24 season will see London Sinfonietta premiere seven new commissions in its 21^st Century Voices concert. Alongside celebrations of Ligeti and Henze at Southbank Centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall, the orchestra delves into its own past, marking the anniversary of its first ever performance with a concert at the Purcell Room in January 2024.