Agenda item

Report of the Director of Culture, Heritage and Libraries (copy attached).

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Culture, Heritage and Libraries seeking approval to fund Spitalfields Music for 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 with a grant of £45,000 per annum.

The Chairman welcomed the report and added that he was impressed with the money raising ability of Spitalfields Music and the accomplishments that schools and children had achieved through the organisation.

In response to a Members question, the Chief Executive of Spitalfields Music informed the Committee of a particularly successful project the organisation had undertaken where musicians had been taken into the Royal London Hospital for a period of 10 weeks to compose special lullabies with the intention of soothing difficult births and bringing new-born babies and their families closer together. She added that this project had provided some early evidence that music aided babies’ recoveries.

RESOLVED – That the Finance Committee be recommended to fund Spitalfields Music for 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 with a grant of £45,000 per annum which represents a 10% cut to the previous level of grant to the organisation, in line with that applied to other City arts organisations.