About Us

This network aims to understand how classical music forms part of the arts scene in cities across the UK, Austria and The Netherlands. The project is focusing on five UK cities and two in Europe, chosen because each has a distinctive classical music scene, and also a ‘lead academic’ interested in the future of classical music in some way; including audience research, the careers of composers, performers and other music graduates, and the ‘arts ecology’, meaning how organisations fit together in a place.

The cities included in the project are:

• Birmingham

• Cardiff

• Glasgow

• Graz (Austria)

• Groningen (The Netherlands)

• Leeds

• Liverpool

Project objectives

Networking objectives

1. To create a network of academics and practitioners with ambitions to strengthen and innovate the classical music sector to face the challenges of the decades ahead.

2. To devise a framework to facilitate the building of networks in UK and European cities, through structured and supportive conversations.

3. To support ECRs and PhD students in music, audience studies and related disciplines to develop skills for researching collaboratively with arts sector partners.

Intellectual objectives

1. To identify and address the barriers to classical music organisations (conservatoires, orchestras, chamber musicians) working together to build new audiences across a city/region.

2. To challenge entrenched assumptions about the training and career paths of classical musicians, and consider how to equip conservatoires and musicians to innovate in the sector, by sharing alternative models and best practices.

3. To share this knowledge across academic disciplines including psychology and sociology of music, cultural and urban studies, in order to bridge gaps in understanding and identify key areas for future research.

Impact objectives

1. To effect meaningful change in the cities where the network is focused and build new partnerships for future collaborative working.

2. To create a model for working across cultural ecologies to enrich the lives of students, musicians and audiences in the classical music sector.

3. To share knowledge and good practice nationally and internationally, to increase the ability of educational and musical institutions to respond to the challenges facing classical music and its audiences.