Continuo Foundation opens fourth round of grants

Florence Lockheart
Monday, July 18, 2022

Following a successful fundraising campaign period instrumentalists are invited to apply for a share of £100,000

Soprano and Continuo Foundation patron Mary Bevan: 'It's great to see this vital initiative continuing to grow with this new round of grants.
Soprano and Continuo Foundation patron Mary Bevan: 'It's great to see this vital initiative continuing to grow with this new round of grants.

Music charity the Continuo Foundation has announced the opening of applications for its fourth round of grants, with period-instrument ensembles invited to apply for a share of £100,000 raised by the charity.

In this fourth round of funding Continuo will continue its ‘Recently Formed Ensembles’ category, introduced in January of this year. Designed to support ensembles formed during the pandemic (between June 2019 and June 2022), this category welcomes applications from these groups through submission of a video recording from a performance given before 30 June 2022.

Continuo patron, soprano Mary Bevan (pictured above) said: ‘Continuo Foundation's support has been life-changing for the freelance musicians in the period performance world, and it's great to see this vital initiative continuing to grow with this new round of grants. I am proud to support their work as a Patron.’

The foundation’s previous three rounds of funding saw £360,000 allocated to 71 projects across the UK since March 2021. The map below highlights this country-wide distribution of grant-supported performances.

Continuo Foundation founder, Tina Vadaneaux, said: ‘We are delighted to have supported 176 live performances and recordings in 78 different locations with the grants awarded so far. Thanks to our donors' generosity, after just 18 months, we are thrilled to announce Grant Round 4, taking total funding to £460,000.’  

Fourth-round funds are made available to applications for use projects scheduled from October 2022 through to the end of March 2023. The Foundation expects to award around 20 grants between £2,000 - £10,000, but final numbers will reflect the applications received and amounts requested. 

Grants from Continuo are open to professional UK-based ensembles of at least three period instrumentalists. Candidates have four weeks to make their applications before the fourth round deadline of 15 August. Grant award decisions are expected by 22 September 2022. 

You can find out more about the Continuo Foundation including details of how to apply for grants here.