Foden’s secures major award

Foden’s Band has secured a major award from Arts Council England through the Grants for the Arts for Three-year Strategic Music and Audience Development Plan 2016-2019.

Grants for the Arts is supported using Public Funding by Arts Council England. The grant over three years is worth £31,020 towards a total project cost worth a staggering £84,534 and the cash injection is to be used to develop a weekend Foden’s Youth Festival, which will run over the three-year development plan, as well as to further develop the Foden’s Band website with player development videos, to support young and developing players. A concert and workshop with the Wallace Collection as guest artist and a joint concert with the world-famous Superbrass will also be staged. Additionally, Foden’s will commission two composers, Derek Bourgeois and Andy Scott, to write two major

15-minute works also suitable for test-pieces over the three years, which will be premièred at two key events: the one celebrating the famous double hat trick of wins achieved by Foden’s at the National Championship of Great Britain (1932 ‘93, ‘94 and again in 1936, 1937, 1938 using Derek Bourgeois and the second major commission to commemorate the centenary of the death of Edwin Firth (Principal Cornetist with Foden’s Band at the outbreak of World War 1), who was killed in 1918 whilst serving during the war. These commissions will be recorded onto separate CDs as part of the project.

Further funding will also be used to develop and market existing and new events to widen existing audiences by adopting a professional approach to management and audience development.

Mark Wilkinson, Band Manager for Foden’s, commented: “This couldn’t have come at a better time for Foden’s due to the recent devastating fire at our band room. A lot of work has been put into the funding application to deliver excellence and ideas for interesting artistic projects. We are very excited about this great award and are looking forward to working with such talent as the Wallace Collection, Superbrass, Derek Bourgeois and Andy Scott, as well as further strengthening our connections with youth development which we are publically recognised.”

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