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Brixton Chamber Orchestra is a versatile group of classically-trained musicians on a mission to deliver fantastic orchestral experiences for the people of Brixton, South London. They’ve just kickstarted their annual Summer Estates Tour – supported through our National Lottery Project Grants programme.
We spoke to Silas Armstrong, their Marketing & Development Manager, to find out more about the work they do and the importance of building relationships with local businesses.
Wallflower Brixton (Jonny Hughes and Joe Twigg)
BCO is a fairly new charitable organisation established in 2018, designed to provide free orchestral concerts for the local community and paid performance opportunities for young professional musicians. We love to play all kinds of music – from classical to grime, disco to drum and bass, and everything in between.
Every summer and Christmas, we embark on a tour of local housing estates in Lambeth, bringing a 22-piece orchestra to people’s doorsteps. As well as our singers and rappers, the tours offer lots of opportunities for audience members and local talent who live on the estates to perform backed by a live orchestra. It’s something uniquely special!
Mebrakh Houghton-Johnson. Photograph by Michael Wharley.
The Arts Council’s support has enabled us to make these Estates Tours possible – full stop! This project has become our flagship event that people in Lambeth look forward to all year round, and this year we've managed to develop the project to even greater heights, with plans to record the set and releasing as an album, offering merchandise for the first time, and reaching an even wider audience, all because of the support received from the Arts Council thanks to National Lottery players.
We've been embedded in our community since we began, but since the pandemic we've really pulled together to help each other out and this year we've got some really exciting additions:
The best thing about all of these collaborations is they're designed to drive more awareness of BCO, encourage donations and sign ups to our BCO Supporters Scheme, the profits go towards our charitable aims, and we get to use our platform to shout about these awesome local independent businesses!
Just get out there and meet people. Networking is so important.
Always keep an eye open for creative opportunities to collaborate and don't be scared to reach out to new people, as they're almost always very receptive to new ideas! Instagram has been a big help for discovery, but equally we went after local businesses that we believed had a common audience and an affinity with the community. We planned our pitch, made contact and started building relationships. When the hard work pays off it's so rewarding.
Natalia Senior-Brown. Photo by Michael Wharley.
The Summer Estates Tour runs from 22 - 31 July, with 12 shows across 12 estates. The exact times and locations are all on our website. Then, in August, we have two Opera Galas taking place in Brixton (Trinity Gardens) and Clapham Common on 20/21 August.
Looking further ahead, our most exciting project is in development for 2023 which is an original album of grime instrumentals in collaboration with emerging artists, entitled Grime Orchestrated. We're very excited about that!
Teigan Hastings. Photo by Michael Wharley.
Interview originally published on Arts Council England website.
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