Established 1989
e: info@spitalfieldsfestival.org.uk
How it all began…
Under the direction of Richard Hickox, the 1989 Spitalfields Festival launched its Education & Community Programme with a project involving 40 pupils from Christ Church Primary School. ‘Spitalfields – Ringing the Changes’ inspired an investigation of the children’s immediate surroundings and traced the layers of social history through images and sounds.
Pivotal moments
• 1990 Simon Foxley appointed as education officer, the first-ever such appointment for a British arts festival
• 1996 The Programme starts working year-round, involving a third of Tower Hamlets’ 104 schools each year
• Winning several awards: in 1994, the Performing Right Society, British Gas Excellence in the City in 1996 and making the Royal Philharmonic Society Education shortlist last year.
The organisation today
The Programme continues to build new relationships, make connections and animate musical lives across Tower Hamlets. This year we have 21 projects, including work in primary, secondary and special schools, adult singing courses, professional development for artists, collaborations with COMA and concerts for community groups.
A big thank you to…
• long-term funders, including the Baring Foundation and the Corporation of London
• artistic directors, past and present (including Judith Weir and Jonathan Dove), for their commitment to education work
• all of the 25,900 people who have been part of the Programme so far.
Celebration events
A photographic exhibition depicting moments from some of the hundreds of projects that have taken place over the past 15 years, to be held at the Brady Arts & Community Centre, 192–196 Hanbury Street, London, E1 from June 7–25.