Music

Eska live at Resound 75th Anniversary British Council- Frank Noon

Eska-live-at-Resound-75th-Anniversary-British-Council--Frank-Noon

From electronica to jazz, traditional to folk, and classical to indie, we work across all genres of music. The British Council’s Music team works with our overseas network of arts managers and partners to plan, resource, deliver and evaluate high-impact arts projects involving professional artists and organisations from the UK.

We aim to strengthen the international profile of UK music and creativity, to communicate the diversity of UK society, and to establish long-term partnerships overseas. The Music team in the Uk also has its own weekly radio show, The Selector radio show, featuring the best new music from the UK.

The Selector UK music

the Selector Radio Show

Listen to the latest sounds from the UK, with the British Council´s award-winning radio show, The Selector. If you are interested in contemporary music such as indie, punk, rock, soul, electro and everything else in between, this is your one stop shop. Each show also features artist interviews and exclusive studio sessions from some of the most exciting artists in the UK.

The show reflects the brilliance and diversity of British music, promoting the sounds, talents and musical culture of modern Britain to an international audience. As well as being broadcast traditionally (only in some countries for the moment, unfortunately not in Finland), each week’s show is available to stream on The Selector’s website – www.selector-radio.com – together with podcasts, videos and an archive of classic sessions.

If you think you may be interested you can keep up-to-date with the latest news from The Selector by following them on Twitter: http://twitter.com/selector_radio.

Colourscape by Eye of Music

One popular music project that British Council Helsinki office has worked with recently is ‘Colourscape‘. As part of the Turku European Capital of Culture 2011 programme and its great performances, a group of six students from the Finnish city of Turku travelled to London last year to learn all about Colourscape.

Colourscape is an experience aimed at diverse audiences. The colourful chambers combined with soothing mused create an experience unlike any other. The experience will be intensified by unlikely music performances, such as Mongolian throat singing.

A local crew made up of 6 Turku students were in charge of setting up and dismantling the chambers each day for the duration of the event. The students attended training in the UK. 16,000 people came to Turku to experience Colourscape in July-August 2011. The month-long exhibition began and ended with Music of the Spheres performances on River Aura.

Read more about the British Council involvement with Colourscape.

What we do and how we work

The British Council’s Music team in the UK works with our overseas network of arts managers and partners to plan, resource, deliver and evaluate high-impact arts projects involving professional artists and organisations from the UK. We aim to strengthen the international profile of UK music and creativity, to communicate the diversity of UK society, and to establish long-term partnerships overseas.

To find out more about our team of music specialists, please visit our UK Music team page

The British Council UK team works with overseas offices and partners (such as festival directors, artistic programmers, venues, producers, art institutions, radio stations) we put together specific music programmes appropriate to the regions in which we work. These are very carefully planned according to British Council strategic objectives, local aims, tastes and needs and are generally planned a year or more in advance. Please read more about how we assess requests for support >>

Support and Funding for music projects

As we are not a funding body, there is no application form unfortunately. The process involves our arts specialists or British Council country Director in Finland assessing whether particular work or proposed projects match the British Council’s strategic priorities and whether they can be included in our plans.

We recommend that you read our global site for information on working with us, and if you still think you meet the criteria to work with us as an overseas partner, then you approach our British Council country Director in Finland to discuss the project in general terms before submitting full details. Also the British artist, ensemble or music company should contact our Arts staff based in London to assess the likelihood of British Council support.

Music Resources and UK sources of information on UK Music

The UK is a leader in the field of education and community outreach work in all artforms, including the fields of classical and contemporary music. It is common for musicians working on British Council projects to get involved in various types of educational and collaborative activity in addition to concert performances.