Friends of Fondation de France ’s Post

Subscribe to our informative newsletter!!!

I've written today in the Evening Standard about the difficulty of securing sufficient capital investment for those of us in the performing arts sector who are required to manage important, beautiful, heritage buildings. The issues facing us at the Southbank Centre are big and urgent, but many other heritage performing arts venues are also struggling to keep their venues relevant and fit for purpose. Many of us operate in historically significant and iconic buildings. In our case, the Royal Festival Hall (just one of our venues) is a Grade One listed postmodern masterpiece. It's also the only remaining symbol of the 1951 Festival of Britain and it will be 75 years old in 2026. It hasn't received any capital investment since 2008 and it desperately needs attention. Those performing arts organisations funded by Arts Council England (like us) don't receive any funding for the upkeep of their buildings. The funds we do receive are solely for the production of our artistic programmes: the plays, concerts, gigs and events we present and produce. The first ever Chair of the Arts Council of Great Britain, John Maynard Keynes, made it clear that the body would never be able to afford to contribute to the arts sector’s capital needs on a regular basis. There has never been a consistent, reliable and sensible solution to the issue for performing arts venues that Maynard Keynes identified. We need a coherent investment plan that will help the Arts and Heritage sector across the UK. Many of us are very willing to match fund through fundraising any public funding we receive, so that we maximise the public pound in the sort of public/private partnerships that we're all very well equipped to deliver. We all care very much about the extraordinary buildings we look after and are united in wanting the very best for our heritage and arts sectors. Harnessed, this creative energy could help provide the solutions, if the Government would join us at the table to close the gap that John Maynard Keynes identified all those years ago. 

Here's just some of the advantages when considering a festival deployment with the n-gage.io software and customisable mobile app. ✅ Engagement can be high, as your audience has already proved their interest by downloading. ✅ Licensing an app and back office solution can be modest compared to percentage spend on social media and other direct marketing activity. ✅ Communication is direct, as push notifications come directly to an opted-in app user’s phone. We also facilitate opted-in email marketing too. ✅ An owned channel becomes a place that organisers can monetise by selling sponsorships and paid for content - with strong potential to neutralise spend. ✅ Use of our 'Capture Your Day' branded frames in-camera function, for sharing direct to social takes engagement viral. ✅ Collection of invaluable data insights, thanks to our geo-fencing analysis, heat maps and audience segmentation tools can be a game changer. ✅ A year-round personal medium for sharing latest news, and spin-off events with fans, without the need to cut through the noise of social channels. 

A few words about the work that we do in Choras Bel Canto and upcoming plans for this season by our Chief of Staff Gerda Valiukonytė.

really starts giving you an insight into the value of our INCLUDE project

IN IT TO WIN IT

The goal of the 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱𝘄𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 is to identify key tasks for the preservation and development of musical culture and to create 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 – a document listing these tasks and calling on the international community to join efforts in addressing them. During the conference, issues related to music creation, education, research, preservation of musical heritage, and the diversity and equality of national traditions, among other areas, will be discussed. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗳𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀!

https://lnkd.in/e-swp5Kp This is it! 🎵 I am so thrilled to share with you my last work for orchestra, Shores (working title: "Longing For Belonging"), conducted by Erin Bodnar. I want to thank the Mostly Modern Festival for choosing my work and giving me this tremendous opportunity to make my music happen - it's more rare than you could imagine! The piece has a suffered story. If you want to know more about it, here's an extract of the program notes. "It all started with “The Island” - a long time ago, probably during the pandemic in 2020, as a musical theater piece [...] meant to be based on a dialogue by Cesare Pavese, part of the book “Dialoghi con Leucò”. I remember reading this book and that “The Island” dialogue in particular, and getting so emotionally involved. It was about the story between Odysseus and Calypso, in a sort of alternative ending of the Odyssey where the protagonist decides not to come back home, but stay on the island with Calypso, because - freely paraphrasing her words from the book: It's just an island, what difference does it make where you decide to lie down and rest your head? And even if you eventually manage to come back to Ithaca, will you even be able to recognize your own houses after 20 years? And the people? Some of them will certainly be understanding, but will you ever be able to share what you have seen and done? You will feel more alone than in the sea. At the time, I found it interesting for the implications of the piece: it was full of insights about what it means to be isolated, and what is the meaning of travel and returning home. It was, as I said, during the pandemic, so of course, the theme was also resonating with the current situation in my life where I was in Germany and couldn’t come back home to Italy. It was a tough time in my life, I was scared for my loved ones - I remember having nightmares every single night. Anyway, the project evolved, but I never actually managed to make it an opera: not only because of the lack of funding, but also - to be honest - because the dialogue was so full and rich of intellectual interest that I found it difficult to transpose it into a libretto to be sung and not really “understood”.

Fun news... I'm now going to be closing Classical:NEXT... ON A BOAT!!! If you're still there on Friday 17th, come join me on a boat (yes a boat) for a provocation and networking session: "Too Much Talking – Not Enough Doing Committing to change in a world of disruption." https://lnkd.in/g4-Eas8j We live in a world of disruption, with new technology affecting all aspects of life and how we interact as a society. Despite this, we keep trying to operate with a 20th century mentality in a 21st century world. Conferences can be inspirational events, but it can be hard to keep this momentum going and implement change when we return home. It can also be isolating to be the only changemaker in your organisation or network. With an eye on the future, this session will examine the need for change and take a light-hearted look at the industry’s habit of repeating outdated ways of doing things, before helping you find like-minded people on similar journeys to you who can become a supportive community in between conferences. This community is for sharing ideas and inspiration and a framework to help keep each other accountable as we stop talking and start doing." #ClassicalNext #Classical #ClassicalMusic #Opera

The 2024 recipient of the Innovative Concert of the Year Award at OPUS Klassik, Dorothee Kalbhenn, believes that the institution she works with "should behave like a good neighbour, who cares about the people around them.” The idea of her award-winning ‘Orchestra Society’ encourages communication and bringing together different groups to achieve a common result. Progress and empowerment fuels a necessity for collaboration between a wide range of players; large arts organisations, concert halls, opera houses, orchestras - and associations, schools, and refugee centers. Dorothee Kalbhenn, who is the Program Director of the Konzerthaus Berlin and on the 2025 Classical:NEXT Jury, and musician and project designer Kian Jazdi discuss why small and large institutions should team up, listen and pay attention to each other. #classicalmusic #innovation #collaboration