A bold blueprint for systemic change

The history of Paraorchestra stretches back to 2011 when Charles Hazlewood first created the ensemble, fighting tooth and nail to get people on board with his vision. It was then a brilliant and vital idea powered by Charles’ extraordinary artistic mind.

2025 marks ten years since Arts Council England saw the potential of his actions and provided a small grant to set us up as a charity – one with a mission for creating world-class art and providing equity for disabled, D/deaf and neurodivergent musicians.

The journey since has been one of courage, creativity and, at times, a little well-placed naivety. When the charity started, we were a small start-up delivering a handful of concerts a year, but even then, while headlining stages at Glastonbury, we always looked to provide exceptionally realised events that shifted audience perceptions of classical music.

Now, as I reflect on a decade working for Paraorchestra, I see a fully-fledged organisation that will become a powerful force for change.

Risk central to evolution

Artistic risk has been central to our evolution. We’ve made bold programming choices over the years, collaborating across artforms and building immersive music concerts and re-imagined contemporary music giving audiences rich, interesting and emotional experiences in stark contrast to the formality and repetition of the traditional classical orchestra. We’ve challenged conventions to take live work to unexpected places, bringing together musicians and communities in ways that defy expectation. 

This past year has marked a particular turning point. From our debut at the BBC Proms with an epic immersive piece, The Virtuous Circle, to The Bradford Progress, our collaboration with Bradford 2025, a 30-hour sonic journey from moor to city, embracing all musical genres of the city, we’ve proved that creative equity and artistic ambition are not mutually exclusive. These things fuel each other.

In an era of ever-tightening funding and income streams, it is more important than ever to support and champion the value of taking risks. We need to be brave, investing where need is greatest and where new ideas can flourish.

Lack of meaningful long-term investment

In our case, we have evolved our approach to introduce Modulate, a multi-layered, peer-led artist development programme. It recognises the lack of meaningful long-term investment in supporting disabled musicians and music creators to expand their creative practice, test and explore artistic ideas and develop leadership skills. It is only in its second year but we are already enabling change, with 80% of the musicians taking part building professional connections through the programme and over 70% making work they otherwise wouldn’t have.

In recognising Paraorchestra’s risk taking, I also can see the risk others have taken on us – funders, venues, commissioners, as well as musicians and creative collaborators, and our trustees and staff, including freelancers. Everyone has taken a risk, invested their time, trust and commitment in providing us the resources and confidence to realise our vision and get us to where we are today.

I write of this knowing how much work is still to be done to create true equity for disabled people in the sector. The classical music industry is still so far from being evolved when it comes to building bridges with disabled musicians and artists. 

How is it that, in 2025, we’re in a place where less than 2% of orchestral musicians identify as disabled? Where venues and orchestras are still not all considering disabled composers when choosing repertoire? Where disabled musicians tell us they were stigmatised in their training or early work to the point that they were told to hide or mask their disabilities for fear of losing work?

Disability in all its multifaceted glory

Too often disability is treated as a monolithic experience. But Paraorchestra wants to show it in all its diverse, multifaceted glory. I am proud we have developed methodologies based on the social model; laser-focused on removing barriers, person-centred, providing space for creativity and ambition to thrive. And, I am frustrated we are one of the few organisations doing this.

The UK continues to be challenging for disabled people. If disabled you face a never-ending battle to prove your right to exist – in a way non-disabled people don’t. Paraorchestra will never waver from exploring new ways to support our disabled workforce in achieving their goals. But it will take commitment and leadership across the arts to avoid losing what small gains we have achieved in the last decade.

So, our ten-year milestone isn’t the culmination of something – it’s just the beginning. Ten years of learning, the cultivation of strong, mutually beneficial relationships with venues, funders, musicians and artists have resulted in creating an ecology that – over the next ten, twenty, fifty years – has the potential to transform the landscape. I hope our work will enable disabled leaders, music-creators and artists to make their own exceptional work, tell their own stories, and lead in their own way.

When you open up space for more people to belong, you don’t lower the bar – you raise the roof. Paraorchestra began as a radical idea. Today, it’s a living, breathing ecosystem of possibility. Inclusive practice isn’t a limitation; it’s an engine for artistic evolution and a bold blueprint for systemic change.