Musicians South West CIC
Full Description of Organisation
A collective of professional musicians based in the Bath and Somerset/Wiltshire area who are committed to bringing live music and multi-arts events to new audiences, particularly to those with limited access to live performance, either for economic reasons or through isolation. Our projects have included Women of World War One (ACE funded touring multi-arts show, 2014-18) and Trio Paradis Cafe Concerts on the Mendips, which is funded mainly by the National Lottery Community Fund, Somerset Community Foundation and local councils. Our daytime concerts and many of our other events are free/pay what you think, to keep music accessible to all. In this way we are building audiences (advised by the Audience Agency), and our Trio Paradis concerts are audience inclusive, with participation at many levels, from volunteering at the venue to poetry reading and featuring local composers'/songwriters'pieces of music in our programmes. With support from the Big Local we performed the first operas to take place in BA3, in Midsomer Norton Town Hall and Victoria Hall. We set up and continue to run the Midsomer Choral Society. Our other groups and affiliates include the Mendip Ensemble, Vox8 and Frome Consort, whilst one of our members has also set up the highly successful Music for Miniatures and Crescendo Concerts.