Founded in 1976 as an annual summer music festival, for over 40 years Spitalfields Music has been putting music at the heart of East London. We aim to bring artists, audiences and communities together so that everyone can find, explore and share extraordinary music in one of the most vibrant areas of London.
Our mission is to bring diverse communities together in one most challenged and deprived boroughs in the UK, at a time when our perceived differences are threatening the well-being of our society. We do this through high-quality performances, an industry leading artist development programme and award-winning projects in schools, special educational needs and disabilities settings, care homes and community centres.
Always driven by the energy of our communities, our work is
founded on three pillars:
-Creative Leadership Development: We lead the music sector in artist development,
pioneering programmes such as our Trainee Music Leaders scheme and Open Call
commissions, and using our position of influence to level up the diversity of the music
sector.
-Community Learning & Participation: Our award-winning programme reaches over
5,000 people each year in schools, special educational needs and disability centres,
residential dementia care homes, and other community settings – in turn, building
participants’ confidence, creativity and well-being.
-Music in/of/from/for the East End: We produce high-quality music performances,
bringing internationally acclaimed artists to East London, and creating musical events in
unexpected places as part of our Summer Festival and, from 2021, year-round.
