Psappha Ensemble to close after losing ACE funding

In a statement released this afternoon contemporary classical music ensemble Psappha has announced that it is shutting down. The group, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2021, is the only professional contemporary classical music ensemble dedicated to promoting new music in the North West of the UK.

The news follows the Art Council England’s (ACE) tumultuous investment portfolio decision released in November last year and comes just three months after Scottish orchestral group Nevis Ensemble also closed its doors due to ‘funding challenges’ in January.

In today’s statement, the ensemble’s chair Kate Stross, artistic director Benjamin Powell and managing director Sally Cook said: ‘The ensemble has had an outstanding history, and we still have plenty of ideas and plans for future projects. However, the loss of 100% of our regular public funding from Arts Council England, which constitutes around 40% of our income in an average year, has ultimately proven too great a challenge for an organisation of our size and scale to overcome, especially in such a difficult funding climate for the arts.’

The ensemble received funding in ACE’s previous investment programme but was removed from the list in the 2023-26 round. At the time of the original announcement ACE CEO Darren Henley assured the sector that organisations leaving the portfolio would be able to apply for a further seven months of funding to take them through to the end of October 2023.

However, in today’s statement from Psappha, the ensemble said: ‘We’ve worked tirelessly behind the scenes and considered every possible alternative, but we haven’t identified a realistic new funding model that would allow us to continue working to the high standards we’ve set ourselves over three decades of commissioning, performing and promoting new music.’

It is unclear when the ensemble’s activities will officially shut down, but it appears to have plans to continue operating until its current Composing For… scheme has run its course.

You can read the full statement here.