Hinrichsen Foundation Multi-year Partnership

The Hinrichsen Foundation was established in 1976 to support new, contemporary, and experimental music. They believe that quality and diversity are inextricably connected both to the music created and its being made public. Musical quality is conditioned by the diversity of audiences – in experience as well as identity. And the quality of audiences – their openness to encountering the new and unfamiliar – is conditioned by musical diversity, the variety of music as well as the composers and musicians presented. In this spirit, they aim to balance the distribution of funds both in and beyond London, including supporting work in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

The Foundation recognises that such care for both the music and the conditions of its experience can be challenging. The foundation therefore rely on robust discussion amongst their diverse Trustees to reach collective judgement in prioritising work that they fund. The Foundation aim continually to inform themselves by attending events and keeping their ears to the ground, and to share good examples of practice through public-facing and community-oriented activities.

The Hinrichsen Foundation give grants for the performance, commissioning and recording of contemporary and experimental music in the UK.

Grant Types:

One-off project grants (applications accepted at September, December, and March rounds):
Generally range from £500 to £3,000.
Multi-year partnerships (applications accepted at May round only):
Application guidance will be released approximately 3 months before the deadline, but this strand of funding is designed to support partnerships to develop longer-term and strategic goals. 
Eligibility:

• Applicants must be based in the United Kingdom. Priority will be given to projects involving composers and activity based in the UK, though activity does not have to solely take place in the UK. 
• Applications may come from individuals, organisations, or charities.
• Projects must focus on the performance, commissioning (with confirmed performance) and/or recording of contemporary music.
• Links to the requested supporting information must be active and accessible to Trustees. Broken or password-protected links may disadvantage your application or result in it being rendered ineligible. 
• The Hinrichsen Foundation rarely supports applications where it is the sole funder of the work.
• Applicants are expected to indicate another source of income (either secured or projected e.g. ticket sales). 
• Applications for research or composer competition funding will not be considered.
• Applications from undergraduates will not be accepted.
• The Trustees do not reconsider applications that have previously been unsuccessful.

Aims and Criteria for Multi-Year Partnerships

Applications for Multi-Year Partnerships (only accepted in May 2025 round) should:

• Align with The Hinrichsen Foundation’s values and objectives for contemporary and experimental music.
• Establish stable and valuable contributions to the UK’s new music ecology.
• Provide or create shared resources that benefit the wider new music community.
• Demonstrate and promote effective practices that balance quality and diversity in production and reception.
• Outline clear potential impact on the contemporary music scene in the United Kingdom. Partnerships should aim to achieve at least regional, if not national, impact.
• Express a clear programme of activity and project timeline, parameters, and outputs. Incomplete or unclear applications may be declined.
• The Foundation regards this part of its funding as strategic and would therefore welcome an active dialogue with successful applicants over the course of their programme of work. They aim to conduct a light touch review of funded partnerships at the end of each year of support.

Applicants can request up to £10K per annum for up to 3 years.

Please note:

If an organisation is funded in the March application round (results mid April), then the funds will be discounted from Year 1 of any successful partnership bid from the May Multi-year partnerships round (results June/July)

Successful Multi-year partner applicants have two alternatives for using the project grant:

• Use the project grant for the initial project and reduce the Year 1 budget for the partnership initiative.
• Forgo the project funding and allocate the funds to the partnership project instead.

If a commission is awarded in March/April and the partnership project focuses on structure, the applicant must either forego the commission or reduce the Year 1 structural funds by the amount awarded for the commission.
Starting projects before the partnership fund outcome in June/July will result in a corresponding decrease in Year 1 funds for the partnership project.
Partnership projects can start from August 2025.

Deadline: Sunday 18 May 2025