Barry Esson

To Whom It May Concern

The London Musicians Collective has for the last 30 years been pivotal in the development, support and participation in experimental music in the UK. Without it’s pioneering work many important artists would not have had a platform from which to work. Similarly, at a grass roots level, their efforts have catalysed hundreds of UK based artists to express themselves creatively and be supported in doing so. They have grown audiences and helped those audience intellectualise their experiences with great success. And in birthing Resonance FM, at great risk and effort, they have created something unmatched in the UK and with few international peers: a truly experimental art project rooted in community, experimentation and validated risk taking.

Some may feel that experimental forms of music are for limited and small specialist audiences, or that they makes little effort to reach out to the wider public: the LMC’s work proves that experimental practice can enrich people’s lives and encourage creativity across a broad spectrum of society. And we only have to remember Stravinsky to realise that today’s experimentation is tomorrows high culture.

Without the LMC our cultural future will be starkly less vibrant, engaging and risk taking.


Barry Esson
Director
Arika
w: www.arika.org.uk