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Introduction

I welcome this timely report and its recommendations to improve access to classical music for everyone. Nobody should be held back by their background from taking part in, benefiting from, and adding to the classical music which is all of our heritage.

- Arts Minister, Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay

Classical music is an important and vibrant part of our creative and cultural sector and we believe it can appeal to even more people wherever they live and whatever their background.  

We want to work with the sector to make classical music more inclusive and reflective of England as it is today, and we’ve come up with a plan to help do just that.

We’re developing a new project to unlock musical talent in communities across England, working with orchestras, music educators, broadcasters, and record labels. The project responds to a report we commissioned to understand the barriers to entering, remaining and becoming successful in the classical music sector.

The report has been produced by ICM Unlimited and DHA Communications, who surveyed people who currently work in the sector and looked at existing research on the subject.  

The report shows that cutting across all other factors, people from lower socio-economic backgrounds struggle to get fair access to a full range of learning, training and job opportunities in classical music.  

Our response

Our response

We invest significantly in classical music and the orchestras, ensembles, opera and ballet companies that create and perform it. And we plan to continue investing in them. 

We’ve outlined nine key actions. We believe they’ll help build an even more vibrant classical music sector that is more inclusive of and more relevant to everyone wherever they live and whatever their background.  

Literature review

Literature review

Looking at previous studies about who trains for a career and who works in classical music. It investigates what we know about why those from certain backgrounds are present or absent in the sector. It also exams the experiences and routes those from different backgrounds take through their training and working lives. It identifies which researchers are contributing to better understanding those reasons and the key arguments they make.

Data audit & analysis

Data audit & analysis

Bringing together material from eight different sources. It looks at what that can tell us about the backgrounds of those learning an instrument, from those taking their first steps to young people studying in conservatoires and the make-up of those who work as musicians and in other areas of classical music.

Workforce survey

Workforce survey

This workforce survey presents the findings from an online survey conducted by ICM Unlimited in 2020 with 967 people who identified themselves as working in the classical music sector. The survey sought to understand the backgrounds and protected characteristics of those in the classical music sector and explore the experiences of respondents. Below is also a data dashboard version of the findings.