Mission Statement
 

This Mission Statement is designed to help focus the development of the consorts in the short to medium term, looking at the three-year period up to the end of 2013. The timing of its preparation reflects the appointment of a new committee early in 2010, and recent turnover of conductors for two of the three consorts. The statement has been prepared by a sub-committee drawn from all three consorts, and has been the subject of wide consultation within the consorts’ membership.

Constitution
Our objects as set out in our constitution are: to advance, improve, develop and maintain public education in, and appreciation of, the art and science of music in all its aspects by any means the trustees see fit, including through the presentation of public concerts and recitals.

Current position
• The consorts contain, within our membership and conductors, considerable musical skill and, through rehearsal and performance, are committed to the development of the skills and experience of our players
• Members are well-motivated to rehearse and perform in their consorts, and turnover of membership is fairly low;  in the main we do not have difficulty attracting new players when vacancies arise
• We perform for, and appeal to, a range of audiences – in more formal concerts, at the Horniman Museum, and during the summer period in bandstand concerts
• The three consorts rehearse separately and, in the main, perform separately (although sometimes within the same concerts) – the one exception being one of the summer 2010 bandstand concerts where performers were drawn from the membership of all three consorts

Work in progress and future direction
Current (autumn 2010) work in progress is directed at producing more innovative performance programmes and increasing creativity in the way in which the three consorts work together. Our future plans over the period covered by this statement rest on three key themes:
• Reaching out to our existing audiences and developing new ones
• Innovative programming and performance
• Continuing to improve the way in which the three consorts work together

Reaching out to our audiences
• We will develop a clear brand across the three consorts, based on our unique qualities – range of instrumentation, range of repertoire, appeal of the familiar combined with the less usual
• Our new website will be an important tool for engaging with audiences, composers and venues
• We will use other tools – our new logo, a corporate banner, possibly some kind of uniform dress for performance – in order to help us develop our collective identity
• We will explore the scope for expanding our audiences by performing in less familiar ways or environments – for example, through outreach to schools to bring our music to children and those with learning difficulties
• We will look at expanding the venues we perform in – both geographically, given that our title covers London as a whole, and in terms of the type of venue in which we perform, building on what has worked for us so far, within the constraints of affordability
• We will work hard at attracting audiences to our concerts, working closely with the venues in which we perform, and being creative in our approach to marketing individual events

Innovative programming
• We will, where appropriate, develop the traditional concert format, by using greater juxtaposition of pieces by different consorts, using thematic coherence as the rationale for our programmes
• We will also be open to a greater degree of performance across consort boundaries, including bother smaller groups and works for the membership of all three consorts
• Where appropriate, and the overall concert format and venue permit, we will engage actively with our audiences during concerts, inviting participation
• We will work actively to encourage contemporary composers to compose pieces for (a) individual consorts; (b) the three consorts as a whole; (c) smaller groups drawn from the consorts

Working together
• We will build on the reward and enjoyment that every member of the consorts gains from membership
• We will explore ideas such as scratch concerts for ourselves to help develop our musical skills and social bonds
• We will develop internal communications on the basis of what members find most valuable
• We will explore social activities, including the idea of an annual party or parties after concerts, as a means of developing our internal networks

Conclusion
We will review these actions, their contribution to the development of the consorts, and the overall direction of the consorts, annually from autumn 2010 to autumn 2013.

London Consorts of Winds Committee, November 2010