LMC LETTERS OF SUPPORT

Toshimaru Nakamura

2008-01-15T07:29:00.001-08:00

LMC has been one of the most important input and stimulation for my music. They have diversity and depth with different type of project, such as tours, free concerts, festivals, a magazine and a radio station. And the durability in their activity makes it much more valuable. They have been checking in my music from time to time, and kept offering me opportunities to work on music in London and elsewhere in the UK. They rather "foster" musicians than just "use" us. I met a lot of British musicians through LMC, and maintain musical relationships with many of them. I believe LMC is an important bridge for musicians from the UK and them from outside.

Toshimaru Nakamura (musician, Tokyo)

TONY HERRINGTON

2008-01-15T00:12:00.000-08:00

Re: London Musicians’ Collective

The Wire magazine supports unequivocally the London Musicians’ Collective in its appeal against the cut in its Arts Council funding that was announced at the end of last year.

Below is a copy of the specially extended Masthead editorial column that will be printed in the forthcoming February issue of The Wire. The text lays out the reasons why The Wire believes it is crucial the LMC retain its Arts Council funding.

The UK’s New Music culture, which is more vibrant now than ever before, in spite of its ongoing financially parlous state, is sustained by an informal network of independent but mutually supportive organisations that have built new audiences for so-called experimental music but which operate for the most part way below the radar of public institutions and the national media. The Wire regards itself as a part of that network. More to the point, the LMC is one of its founding links, and one of its most crucial; its removal will threaten the stability of the entire structure.

The Wire urges the Arts Council to rethink its decision and restore the LMC’s funding forthwith.

TONY HERRINGTON
Editor-in-Chief & Publisher
THE WIRE MAGAZINE

Kelli Dipple

2008-01-15T00:10:00.001-08:00

To whom it may concern,

I am writing in support of The London Musician’s Collective (LMC) and the continued support of their activities by the Arts Council.

The LMC have been one of the most instrumental organisations working in support of experimental and new music in London for many years. There work has met with an extraordinary wide range of practitioners and audiences, across a range of platforms including major public events as well as extended activities such as the establishment of Resonance FM. The LMC is a brand and a legacy, who’s impact can not be underestimated. Working with both young and established artists, the group’s long-term presence in the UK new music scene has provided advice and support, as well as commissioning and presentation opportunities for many composers and musicians. They work with a range of venues across London producing events through which audiences are able to experience music from the UK and beyond.

Their ongoing networking, information sharing, collaboration and co-production activities are to be commended. A significant loss of infrastructure and core funding will no doubt have short, medium and long-term affects on not only the LMC’s operations but also their associates. Without the LMC, I believe London will see less new music events; less dialogue between composers, musicians and audiences and fewer international acts that cater to specialist interests not as suited to the larger London venues.

Careful consideration should be given to the wider impacts and instrumental influences that the LMC’s work has and will have on an extended network of creative artists, producers, promoters, venues and audiences.

Kind Regards

Kelli Dipple
Curator, Intermedia Art
Tate

Keith Rowe

2008-01-12T04:43:00.002-08:00

Hello
I would urge you to reconsider the cuts proposed on the LMC. it’s the organization most able to spot
any new direction music is heading, an unrivaled track record.
Yrs
Keith Rowe

Sean Meehan

2008-01-12T04:43:00.001-08:00

To whom it may concern,

It is with a great sense of dismay that I learn that the future vitality of the London Musicians Collective (LMC) is threatened due to a withdrawal of support by the Arts Council of England.

For decades the LMC has set the benchmark for the presentation and preservation of experimental and avant-garde culture, and in doing so has earned an international reputation. Internationally, the cannon of British experimental music has had a significant impact on the arts world and should be considered a national treasure as well as a great cultural export. The depth and breadth of the influence of the British avant-garde is a direct result of the significant work of the LMC to present, promote, and preserve it.

One of the greatest measures of civility is the prosperity of a society's culture. I ask that you please reconsider any cuts in the funding of the London Musicians Collective and invest generously in this exemplary cultural institution. The future success of the LMC will validate the history of the British avant-garde and bear witness to its illustrious future.

Sincerely yours,

Sean Meehan

Emily Richardson

2008-01-12T04:42:00.000-08:00

LMC and Reasonance fm are inspiring alternatives in an increasingly homogonised, commercial artistic and musical landscape.

Emily Richardson
(artist)

Burkhard Stangl

2008-01-12T04:39:00.000-08:00

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

We appalled to hear that LMC is threatened. LMC is one of the most
important organisations we know in Great Britain concerning
experimental, improvised and actual music. To be invited to perform
at the LMC-festival was and is a honour for every musician, worldwide.

We hope from the bottom of our heart that you are responsive to our's
pleas: Don't stop the support and funding for LMC. It would be a
cultural disaster for London, England and the musical world not
having the LMC.

Some private words as well:
Me, composer/performer,I played at LMC two times, 1995 and 2007. The
concert with the ensemble Polwechsel in the year of 1995 was an
important step of my and our carreer. And I'm sure there are a lot of
other muscians too who can share the same experience.

Please, don't withdraw the LMC's funding!!!

Burkhard Stangl
(chairman of contemporary music fünfhaus, Vienna)
(musician)

Peter Cusack

2008-01-10T15:31:00.001-08:00

Dear Arts Council Music Panel,

As an international improvising musician and Senior Lecturer in Sound Arts and Design at the University of Arts, London, your proposal to end the LMC's grant causes me huge concern. From it's monthly calandar (of all London improvised events), through educational workshops to the Annual International Festival the LMC promotes, encourages, showcases and informs about improvised and related musics in inumerable ways. The festivals particularly have not only given international musicians a voice in the UK but have allowed relationships between UK and foreign musicians to flourish. I have performed many times abroad through contacts originally made via the LMC. This cannot be done without subsidy. Without it the London's and the UK's improvised music would not have the strength or the very high international reputation that it currently enjoys.
As a lecturer I regularly send students to the LMC both as musicians and to participate in all aspects of LMC work. No other organisation provides such consistant training opportunities.
The LMC was the originator and is the driving force behind ResonancFM. The two work very closely in tandem with a symbiotic relationship that is unique in sonic culture. It is an incredibly productive combination. For the LMC to lose it's grant would be a savage, and unneccessary, blow, not just to London, but to the sonic arts community and its audience as a whole. It's lose would be felt worldwide.
Peter Cusack

Bob Levene

2008-01-10T09:28:00.000-08:00

Dear Mr Knight,

I’m writing to express my concern that the London Musicians Collective Arts Council Grant has been cut.

LMC is an organisation that has a long successful history of enabling & supporting musicians and artists, giving them the opportunity to perform to a broad and challenging audience. It presents, questions, and challenges the idea of music and listening as well as attracting a large & diverse audience particularly with its highly successful Radio Station Resonance.

I was recently asked to perform at LMC Experimental Music Festival,
I found the experience productive, challenging, engaging and supportive - everything I hope for (but rarely get) when working with an organisation. They took a risk with me and for that I am very grateful, in the light of the recent announcements from the culture sectary regarding ‘excellence in the arts’, it would be utterly ridiculous and a devastating blow to experimental music and art in the UK, if ACE were to effectively close the London Musicians Collective.

Please reconsider,
Regards
Bob Levene

Bob Levene

www.boblevene.co.uk
www.automatednoiseensemble.co.uk

Olivia Block

2008-01-10T01:33:00.000-08:00

Dear Sirs,
I am writing to you in hopes that you will reconsider your decision
to withdraw support for for the London Musicians Collective. As an
artist from Chicago who has participated in one of the recent LMC
festivals I can tell you that it is a very professional and well run
organization which specializes in extremely important new music. It
is an awkward time in the world of "Western art music" now, as
classical organizations can not/do not take the types of risks
necessary to sponsor truly inventive new types of music. There are
always venues on the fringes of things, but rarely is there a top
rate festival like the one that the LMC hosts which brings
international improvisers, new music and electronic music composers
together for a well planned and well attended event. The LMC is
supporting some of the most important creative work which is
happening NOW, not from the last century, and this is incredibly rare
and so valuable.
Thank you so much for your time in reading this letter and I do hope
you reconsider your decision
Sincerely
Olivia Block

Lee Patterson

2008-01-09T17:27:00.001-08:00

The London Musicians’ Collective is one of the most important organisations in the field of experimental music working in Britain today.
It’s support for improvised music and the sonic arts via its’ annual festival and periodicals, remains unsurpassed by any other organisation in the country.

It’s support for my practice, through the provision of several opportunities to perform at well attended, high profile events in the capitol, has proven to be invaluable to my development as an artist. It has lead to the development of new works and many performance opportunities, as well as fruitful collaborations internationally.

Indeed, it is the organisations’ ability to function on the regional through to the international level, that has lead to its’ reputation as a national treasure. Working, as it does, with U.K artists as well as those from around the world, bringing them together to share their work, audience and critical response.

Throughout its’ thirty-odd year history, the LMC has been instrumental in the career development of a number of internationally renowned musicians and artists with reputations that span the globe, to remove the opportunity for future practitioners to develop in a similar fashion is gross folly and hugely destructive to the cultural reputation of this country.

The withdrawal of funding to this organisation will lead to a tragedy not only on a local or regional scale, but also nationally and internationally.

Lee Patterson, Manchester, 10/01/2008.

Tom Chant

2008-01-09T16:42:00.000-08:00

The London Musician's Collective is the original risk taking organisation. The LMC has been promoting excellence in improvised, experimental, noise, concrete, cross-genre, cross-cultural, dada, fluxus, scratch, etc, etc, music for over thirty years and continues to promote the very best and the most cutting edge of all these musics and more, now. The LMC present these challenging, rewarding musics through a variety of sources, not least Resonance FM, now world famous, broadcasting to London via the FM transmitter and to the world via the internet, programmes that cut a swathe through the rest of the UK's (if it exists at all) art radio community and competes, converses and co-habitates with the worlds most forward thinking radio broadcasters. The LMC has more than lived up to it's remit to present the most challenging music through it's annual festival. A much copied (it's hard to imagine the Meltdown, Ether, Freedom of the City, Huddersfield, Kill Your Timid Notion festivals, sometimes even as existing without the LMC Festival) creative haven for world renown musicians and artists that continues to push for the most interesting sounds in Europe and the world, let alone London.

My first contact with the LMC was their Twenty Five Years from Scratch event at the ICA celebrating the 25th anniversary of the creation of Cornelius Cardew's Scratch Orchestra. Both my parents were original members of the Scratch, and to experience the joy and the creative freedom of performing Scratch music was one of my first and biggest inspirations to take up improvised and experimental music. Thanks to the LMC I've been enriching my life (and hopefully the lives of others) through creative, experimental, improvised music making for nearly fifteen years. Without the LMC I'd just be making boring, commercial music for the enriching of only my own pocket exclusively, with no thought for culture and the practice of open creative thought presented to a huge and joyous LMC audience.

Tom Chant, saxophonist.

Cathy Lane

2008-01-09T15:34:00.001-08:00

The LMC has over the years introduced myself and many of my colleagues and students to a huge and varied range of music and sound practices. In that time it has kept up with international developments and introduced fantastic artists to new audiences through its annual festival and other programming and has encouraged and inspired successive generations to experiment, develop, learn and collaborate across musical and international boundaries.

Cathy Lane
CRiSAP
Creative Research in Sound Arts Practice

www.soundarts.co.uk
www.crisap.org

Charlemagne Palestine

2008-01-09T13:37:00.002-08:00

to whom it may concern!!!

I know the London Musicians' Collective since over 1O years!!!

I'm a 60 year old Composer / Performer who was born in Brooklyn Ny and has presented my works in more than 20 countries these last 40+ years.

Already in the middle nineties the Collective invited me before others after a period that musicians of my generation were forgotten and rarely performed.

The Collective; as has always been their tendency were OUT THERE sniffing / aiding / inspiring / what was happening for the FUTURE

and not just what was easily acceptable from the past and the present!!

They are a unique organisation in England!!!!!!. In many other countries a Collective like yours exists and many countries remain proud and vigilent

to protect these organisations

The difference now in England unfortuately is that London has

become one of the most expensive and chic places in the world an artist of my generation exposing at the TATE MODERN arrives like a KING!!! and the TATE

continues to expand like A TEN STAR HOTEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE LONDON MUSICIANS' COLLECTIVE which is AS important or even mMORE important considering the lack of serious support for works and genres which

are totally parelell with what you present at the TATE are now under threat of EXTINCTION !!!

What does that say about the cultural priorities of your Country and

your cultural Polticians??????????!!!!!!!!!! I write this letter with a deep sadness!!! Can you really justify embracing your rich and properous artists and art scene

and abandon your other

visionaries and geniuses of the future??? I hope not!!! I hope this is just a temporary misunderstanding of a few politicans not well educated about how

the evolution of culture REALLY WORKS and that it will be soon be remedied !!

as it MUST!!!!!!

With great respect and hope for the future of multi cultural directions in Britain!!!

I am

Charlemagne Palestine !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Otomo Yoshihide

2008-01-09T13:37:00.001-08:00

It is not easy for me to explain LMC is how much important for us by short words. Anyhow I can say only one thing clearly, Why I was started interested in British improvised music or new music, because LMC's works! and If LMC does not support my work or other important new muiscans works, probably my way of music work was very diffrent and poor and the world of the music would be poorer than now. I really really hope LMC will continue in future. Thay need real help!

Otomo Yoshihide / musican composer from Tokyo

nikos veliotis

2008-01-09T13:36:00.001-08:00

It is sad to hear that the Arts Council of England intends to withdraw the LMC's funding. I have participated myself in one of LMC’s hugely successful festivals and it has always been a bright example of how these festivals bring together the international community of the avant garde and the London audiences, something that in my country is still unthinkable! Loosing the LMC will be a great loss for the international circuit of contemporary art!

nikos veliotis
artist, Athens, Greece

Rhodri Davies

2008-01-09T13:35:00.001-08:00

LMC is the essential organisation for fostering and
promoting groundbreaking experimental and improvised
music in London and beyond. It has an extensive
audience and its influence is worldwide.

It is a key platform for musicians and creative
artists working with sound. It is an important way for
like-minded musicians and audience to network and
share creative ideas, through its numerous activities
such as: workshops, concerts, festivals, CDs and radio
station. It is also an indispensable resource with its
magazine, audio and text archive and monthly calendar
of concerts.

The LMC’s role is crucial from grass roots through to
the international arena. It has been indispensable to
the musical life of thousand of musicians and artists
for the last 30 years. It saddens me greatly that one
of the UK’s treasures should not be supported and
cherished.

Rhodri Davies
January 2008
Newcastle Upon Tyne

www.rhodridavies.co.uk

Veryan Weston

2008-01-09T13:34:00.001-08:00

Reference: New funding cuts for music

Dear

It seems that 2008 is going to be one of the worst years imaginable for contemporary music, or at least the kind of contemporary music I am connected with. Over the last thirty years as a fulltime active musician with qualifications up to and including a masters in composition and experience which has taken me to many places in the world, I can, for the first time ever, categorically say that this country is now one of the most deprived, backward and ignorant when it comes to actively supporting their own artists involved in certain key types of contemporary music.

The reason why you probably have not heard of me, although I am fifty-seven years old, is that nearly all my work has to be abroad, and as a result of these recent cuts, there is even less likelihood that I or most of my colleagues will ever get to play their music in suitable venue/s with an appropriate fee anywhere in UK, and so your knowledge of our musical involvements is even more likely to be ignored.

2008 started disastrously with the announcement that the Red Rose Trades and Labour Club in Seven Sister’s Road, which has been a creative haven and meeting point for literally thousands of very important and memorable concerts is to be turned in to a snooker hall. This means that two or three weekly events which have been going now for many years have to finish. Incidentally, I would imagine that neither you nor any of your staff have ever been to this venue to see a concert. Keeping away from grass-roots concerts like this, except for perhaps the more prestigious ones you organise yourselves, will enable you to cut funds for similar projects as there are no feelings of guilt because - out of sight is out of mind, and ignorance is strength.

Meanwhile by completely removing funding for the London Musician’s Collective you have successfully removed another vital source of oxygen for many kinds of new music. This organisation is now nearly forty years old and has provided a very substantial platform for many musicians. In fact, probably the last fairly paid concert I have done in this country, was for them.

Meanwhile I am told that Serious Music (or Productions) will be having their funding DOUBLED. To make such decisions as these I find completely irrational and irresponsible. By doing what you have done, you have simultaneously propagated a museum culture, in the form of jazz, which anyway is able now to attracted some reasonable commercial support, at the same time as stifling many new music projects that were dependant on being nurtured in order to yield wonderful fruit later.

I apologise if the tone of this email seems aggressive, but I am very angry and upset with what is happening in the world of so-called art where diamond skulls and ‘winners’ take precedent over the thriving majority in the arts where collectivity and collaboration are being abandoned.

Yours faithfully

Veryan Weston

John Butcher

2008-01-09T13:33:00.000-08:00

Dear Mr. Knight,

I'm surprised and disturbed to hear of the proposed curtailment of the
London Musicians' Collective's grant from the Arts Council.
For more than 30 years the organisation has lead the way in supporting
innovative music in England - engaging with the history and evolution of
an extraordinary range of musics and artists.
As a musician fortunate enough to perform throughout the world, I'm in a
position to recognise the unique contribution the LMC has made to
musical life in England. In particular, it's imaginative pursuit of both
quality and risk within the work of both emerging and established artists.

I would appreciate an acknowledgement of this email.
Thank you.

Dr. John Butcher
--
http://www.johnbutcher.org.uk/

Simon Reynell

2008-01-09T13:32:00.000-08:00

To whom it may concern,

I was dismayed to hear that the Arts Council was proposing to stop funding the London Musicians’ Collective. The LMC plays a crucial part in fostering, developing and expanding new and improvised musics in the UK, but also has an impact and repercussions internationally.

My own company would suffer if the LMC were to close, as many of the musicians with whom I produce cd’s are LMC members and/or are supported by the continuing existence of the LMC as a centre for organising events & festivals, running Resonance FM and generally co-ordinating much of the activity around experimental music in this country.

Yours sincerely,

Simon Reynell
Director of ‘another timbre’

Mark Sanders

2008-01-09T13:31:00.001-08:00

Dear Sir/Madam

Please do not withdraw funding to the London Musicians Collective as it is the lifeblood to creative musicians of all ages, race and gender. LMC concerts and festivals bring valued, influencial musicians from around the world, and promoters from other festivals around the world who are able to see the great breadth of talent we have in London.
Also Resonance radio has brought many new creative music devotees to the London alternative music scene

Mark Sanders

Andi Studer

2008-01-09T13:30:00.000-08:00

Over the last 5 years I got to know this organisation as incredibly committed to artistic quality in their field experimental music. Furthermore, Ben Drew and Ed Baxter have supported me and my organisation with highly valued support. Whether in the form of development advice or active networking and promotional support, the LMC has always been an organisation extremely helpful to me and many other independent promoters and musicians. The LMC represents a very important hub in London's music landscape, being it in their role as producer as well as a centre for support for many active musicians and organisations. London without the LMC would be a culturally poor place to be.

Andi Studer, Cenatus Music Projects, 28/12/07

Paul Abbott

2008-01-09T13:29:00.000-08:00

As somebody passionately dedicated to exploring and experiencing sound and music, as a listener and artist, I am greatly shocked to hear that the survival of the LMC is threatened. I have experienced many performances and recordings, met many people and had many conversations that have profoundly inspired me. The LMC has also been a unique and generous point of contact and collaboration for those of us needing to gain confidence, education and inspiration to attempt the difficult task of developing our own music and sound practices. For those of us who are committed to the importance of an inclusive, alternative, open and diverse approach to working with sound and music, and who's interests are not represented elsewhere, the LMC is a totally essential organisation, without which the richness and diversity of work that we can experience will suffer greatly.

paul abbott

Will Guthrie

2008-01-09T13:28:00.002-08:00

To Whom It May Concern,
I recently had the mispleasure of hearing that The Arts Council of England wants to withdraw funding for the LMC. This is a thoughtless and dangerous move as if it wasn't for the LMC (as there are very few other organisations who promote experimental music in England with any funding at all) the experimental music scene in England (and the world throughout) would suffer greatly.
The LMC does the essential job of presenting, diffusing, promoting music that others will not, or cannot. Without it we (as performers, listeners, organisers) would be much worse off.
I sincerily hope you can reconsider who important the LMC is!
Will Guthrie
Australian musician living in France, composer, festival organiser.

Barry Weisblat

2008-01-09T13:28:00.001-08:00

It is quite easy to understand why funding for an organization like the
LMC could and perhaps would dwindle to the point of non existence. I can
see how a sponsor of such an organization might find it more worthwhile
to attach there name and redirect their support for bigger and glitzier
causes...Although my thoughts may be inline with a minority I believe it
has been a wonderful, sensitive gesture that Ben Drew and the rest of the
supporters of the LMC have given a stronger voice to creative minds that
do not feel the need to flash lights, preach, or market for attention....
A dandelion, to some, is a weed that needs pulling and discarding....for
others it is a rich source of nutrients...as has been the LMC's sharing of
little known art and information, including concert festivals, radio
broadcast and an impeccable online archive...which not only would be
missed but would help in creating a difficiency in nourishing many
inquisitive minds.

Barry Weisblat

mark wastell

2008-01-09T13:27:00.001-08:00

to whom it may concern.

the LMC has been enormously supportive to me as a musician over the last 10 years. they happen to be one of the very reasons i became a musician in the first place having attended their concerts proir to performing myself. their educational and broadcasting activities have been internationally respected and acknowledged and deserve continued arts council support.

yours mark wastell

Richard Whitelaw

2008-01-09T13:26:00.002-08:00

LMC is a vital resource for brave and forward-looking music for those citizens of London who need more than what the mainstream has to offer. This city needs this organisation.

Richard Whitelaw
sonic arts network

Helena Gough

2008-01-09T13:26:00.001-08:00

My attention has been drawn to the plight of the London Musicians'
Collective, whose grant from Arts Council England's Music Department
has now been entirely cut. I would like to voice my concern over this
matter. The LMC is dedicated to supporting avant-garde music of all
kinds in a way which cannot be equalled by any other organisation in
the country. It is a fundamental hub for those who have an interest in
experimental music, either professionally or as an engaged listener.

I have personally had the privilege of being involved with the LMC's
recent annual festival of experimental music. This gave me the
opportunity to perform to a committed and enthusiastic audience in an
environment that was both supportive and challenging. This was a
pivotal moment in my progression as a sound artist and I am immensely
grateful for it. Please do not let this invaluable resource fade away.
This is a matter which I, like many others, am very concerned about.

Helena Gough (freelance sound artist)

Barry Esson

2008-01-09T13:24:00.000-08:00

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

Margarida Garcia

2008-01-09T13:23:00.002-08:00

To whom it might concern,

I have been an audience and a collaborating musician of London Musician's Collective
events the last couple of years and they have been super efficient and dedicated
concert organization.
Their efforts to bring together unique sets of musicians is praiseworthy as they
dedicate full attention not only to an excellent curatorial
work, but attending to artist's needs and amazing promotion work.
Their events show a world wide deep knowledge of experimental / underground
music, with coeherent high quality standards while keeping the openess that urges
them to further investigate and search for new musicians, new work and new, exciting
and more meaningful ways to present their artistic choices to the audience.
They have given solid proofs of their immense value and contribution to the
Arts/Music world and they will continue to surprise us with their visionary events if we let
them.

kind regards,
Musician,
Margarida Garcia

Martin Spencer

2008-01-09T13:23:00.001-08:00

Dear Moira,

I was dismayed to hear that Resonance FM and the LMC are no longer to be
funded in any way by the Arts Council of England's music department.

My father Robert Spencer was a distinguished musician and a professor at
the Guildhall School of Music; he taught me much about the importance of
music most importantly as human communication. Through him I also came
to understand that the financial position of musicians generally and in
particular those who choose to take their art seriously, and the huge
amount of (often unpaid) work that goes on behind the scenes in order to
make quality possible.

Although much of the output of Resonance FM can accurately be described
as 'challenging', I believe it has done a very good and actually unique
job of fostering and promoting modern directions in music and audio, and
making the work of local musicians more accessible to members of the
public who would otherwise never even consider listening, because of the
accessibility and sound quality of the FM radio platform. Obtaining a
London FM frequency for avant-garde music and other obviously
non-commercial yet culturally and intellectually stimulating audio
material was a huge achievement! And the continuing operation and
maintenance of it continues to be important to the health of music and
more generally to culture in the UK's capital.

This email is to encourage you, as ACE London Director, to look again
and see if there can be some way forward for the Music Department to
support the LMC and their unique platform Resonance FM.

Please would you be so kind as to take the trouble to let me know your
thoughts on this.

Best Regards,

Martin.

Steve Beresford

2008-01-09T13:21:00.001-08:00

The LMC has been the one UK organisation that has persistently presented and supported truly experimental and improvised music.

Other very successful initiatives in new music have clearly taken a lead from the LMC. I am thinking of the last two years' Huddersfield New Music Festival and the Dundee festival 'Kill Your Timid Notion',
in particular.

The LMC is absolutely the last organisation that should have its grant
cut.

Steve Beresford

Jean-philippe Gross

2008-01-09T13:20:00.002-08:00

I have presented my work at LMC festival. And it was a great pleasure to
play there. It's one of the most important and creative festival in
Europe, devoted to non-profit art and music. It's very important to keep
structure like this alive.
It is not often that artists have the oportunity to present their work
in Festival like London Musician Collective one.

Jean-philippe Gross / musician / Metz (france)

Ivan Seal

2008-01-09T13:20:00.001-08:00

Having attended LMC events as part of its audience for many years, and performed as an artist many times, I would like to emphasise the essential nature of this venue to music production. I am dismayed to hear that the Arts Council may restrict funding to this fantastic organisation in April 2008. My fear is that this valuable resource for both public and maker will disappear from London. The opportunities for young artists to perform (my own first performance in London was for the LMC) and more established artists to experiment is rare in the current cultural climate. The LMC has until now provided this opportunity at a reasonabe price due to outside funding. I feel this is not only artistically enriching but a cultural neccessity for the city's creative audience. London needs organisations like the LMC if it is to stay culturally diverse and relevant. Artists and their context must have support networks like the LMC to create new and important work. Please do not let another support structure for the creative practitioner and public be destroyed through our lack of support.
Ivan Seal, artist

Billy Roisz

2008-01-09T13:19:00.000-08:00

To whom it may concern:

I write in regard to the withdrawal of funding the London Musician´s
Collective.

I am video- and soundartist from Vienna/Austria. I have released 15 cds
and dvds on several international labels, my films are distributed by
the internationally wellknown distributor for experimental film,
'sixpackfilm'. I started my artistic career around 2000 and was invited
to the excellent 'Feedback: Order from Noise' Tour 2004, organised by
the great people of LMC. This tour had a very deep impact on my further
artistic development and was very important for my international career.
I had the possibility to work together with great pioneers of Feedback
Art like Alvin Lucier, Otomo Yoshihide and Nicolas Collins. Since this
LMC Tour I am working together with Toshimaru Nakamura (project name
AVVA, DVD release on 'erstwhile records' Oct 2006). Meanwhile AVVA has
been touring Japan, Korea, Italy, Czech Republic, Austria, Poland and UK.

I was also part of the LMC Festival 2007 - just a few weeks ago. For me
it was one of the best Festivals of 2007 and again I had only great
experiences with the organizers of the Festival. Everything was so well
organised, the technician was excellent.

The LMC is a unique institution, not only unique in UK, but in Europe
and indeed the world. For decades the LMC hosted the most diverse
collection of musical pioneers imaginable: musicians from all over the
world, from the internationally celebrated to the completely unknown.

I urge you to do whatever is within your power to ensure that the
cultural treasure which the London Musician´s Collective continues to
offer the extraordinary and unique services that the audience and
invited artists have enjoyed from it over these many years.

Billy Roisz

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Emmanuelle Pellegrini

2008-01-09T13:17:00.000-08:00

LMC festival must continue because every artists need places to create
LMC festival is unique because improv and creators of improvised music
are unique
LMC festival is even a part of music's history
The Arts council must be aware that LMC is a must in the international
movement for improvised and experimental music
And must absolutely be supported.

Emmanuelle Pellegrini
Festival Densités/France
www.vudunoeuf.asso.fr

John Bisset

2008-01-09T13:15:00.000-08:00

the lmc is unique in it's support of a huge variety of artists working in the fertile margins of the mainstream. I have been involved with them for 15 years and I have seen so many people come from all walks of music, people who were perhaps isolated in their concept of music making, to flourish within the collective it maintains. long may she rain!

john bisset

Yasunao Tone

2008-01-09T13:14:00.002-08:00

Dear sirs,
I was a participant of the London Musicans’ Collective Experimental Music festival in this year as composer/performer.

I am impressed outstanding organizational effort and very appropriate and exciting selections of lineup on top of very enthusiastic audience. The activities of experimental musicians totally depend on public funding because they are not commercially viable.

Yasunao Tone

Sarah Washington

2008-01-09T13:14:00.001-08:00

To all those concerned,
I am writing in complaint at the proposed cut in Arts Council funding for the London Musicians' Collective.

I have been attending experimental music events since 1983 when I was a shy eighteen year-old with a burgeoning interest in all things related to sound and the far reaches of musical expression. I have been amazed and inspired by what I have seen and heard over twenty five years in London, at events which have quenched my cultural appetite and remain remarkably alive in memory. The majority of these experiences can be attributed (directly or otherwise) to one small organization - the London Musicians' Collective (LMC).

The LMC works tirelessly to promote experimental music, sound art, and multimedia collaboration, and has added community radio to its list of resounding accomplishments. In recent years, the LMC annual music festival has played to sold-out audiences at venues such as the ICA, and the mixed-media events hosted by the LMC for its radio station Resonance 104.4FM have been hugely successful. These and other LMC initiatives spawn replicas all over the world from their imitators and admirers.

This large amount of work which services an ever-expanding cultural taste cannot happen without staff and without resources. The daily slog to keep the organization's nose above water would not be possible without the grant that the LMC has enjoyed for many years as a regularly funded organization of the Arts Council. Nor could the LMC survive without the countless individuals who give freely of their time and energy to sustain the community that is the LMC by producing its publications, serving on its board and helping run events. As with most successful artistic endeavours, a vast amount of the work that is done is both unpaid and invisible.

The community that relies on the work of the LMC has grown exponentially during the past five years due to the Resonance radio project. This has mushroomed from an experiment into a valued life experience for a significant number of Londoners. It has produced numerous collaborations, many regular new music events, new art-forms for radio and has created a hub for thousands of artists of all types to meet, explore and create. Resonance is the embodiment of the spirit of the LMC, born from a mixture of generosity and curiosity, drawing on the experiences discovered throughout thirty years of constantly evolving work in the field of experimental music. It has been argued that the radio station itself can be considered a work of art. It is certainly influential, far-sighted, changeable and immensely valuable due to the vision of its licence-holder, the LMC.

My current work as an experimental musician and radio artist stems directly from the work of the London Musicians' Collective. This is true for many other internationally-respected artists. The LMC gave us inspiration, and then gave us a voice. For those of us lucky enough to get involved in the operations of the LMC, our lives will never be the same. Over the years the LMC has given birth to dozens of self-organized groups who offer regular music events in London. There is no comparable music organization: the LMC creates no distance between itself, the music and the participants, be they artists or audience. I know of no other related organization that is able to allow its audience to naturally evolve into its next generation of artists.

As it is proposed by the Arts Council to cut the London Musicians' Collective funding from April next, I would like answers to the following questions:

1. Is the Arts Council interested in passion, interest and expertise, engagement on a human scale with the arts in the widest context?

2. Does it matter to the Arts Council that the next generation of experimental musicians and sound artists will find it difficult to draw inspiration and support from less-accessible organizations then left to fill the void?

3. Does the Arts Council think it sensible for a world-respected cultural centre such as London to undermine a world-respected organization such as the LMC?

4. Is it important to the Arts Council to fund organizations that encourage artists to be free to develop in their chosen direction, with no template ruling the outcome?

5. Can London afford to discard such a solid influence on the cultural development of the city?

London will change without the LMC, whose guiding principles of cultural efficacy and authenticity will be lost. London, as ever, will be seen to be putting on a show, yet with a huge hole in its soul. The repercussions will be felt internationally, and there will be a lack of something very special in the heart of London's experimental music scene.

It is obvious to me that the LMC is a treasure, and not just for London. As such it must be enabled to continue its meaningful work. I am at an utter loss to imagine a better way to fund a core cultural activity in London than to carry on supporting the London Musicians' Collective.

I ask that you respond to my comments and questions with care and attention.

Sincerely,
Sarah Washington

Knut Aufermann

2008-01-09T13:13:00.000-08:00

The London Musicians' Collective has changed my life. Quite literally,
if I hadn't gone to the concerts that were organised by the LMC I would
have never met many amazing artists who I now consider friends, I would
not have gotten involved in playing experimental music myself, I would
not have made contact with the world of experimental radio through the
LMC's Resonance104.4fm and I would not have a successful career as a
musician and radio artists today. The LMC continues to give me impulses
that are important to my artistsic and personal life.

Knut Aufermann

Robin Hayward

2008-01-09T13:11:00.002-08:00

To the Arts Council of England

I am writing to express my support for the London Musicians' Collective, and my deep dismay upon hearing that its funding may be withdrawn from April 2008. The LMC has been supporting musicians from the grassroots level up for over 30 years, and is in touch with the musicians themselves and current trends within music, both within London and internationally. Having been based in Berlin for the last 10 years, I can confirm that it is the organization most closely associated with London's experimental music scene. In setting up the radio station 'Resonance' it has created an international forum for experimental music and inspired similar projects elsewhere in Europe. I urge the Arts Council of England to reconsider its decision, and feel it would be making a grave mistake should it not do so. Please reply to this email.

Robin Hayward
www.robinhayward.de

Burkhard Beins

2008-01-09T13:11:00.001-08:00

Dear Ladies and Gentleman,

it´s an undeniable necessity for democratic societies to not only allow
but to actively support critical and sometimes even uncomfortable forms
of art. London has a worldwide reputation for it´s huge potential of
musicians working on a colourful variety of non-academic forms of
experimental music. In my opinion the London Musician's Collective has
been very successful for many many years now in supporting and
presenting this musical area. It has established an important
infrastructure and is annually organising the one and only festival of
this kind in London.
During my first visits of London in the early 1990's, attracted by it´s
lively experimental music scene, is has been the LMC through which I
made all my contacts to local musicians. Since then a substantial
cultural exchange between London and Berlin began to flourish. In the
long run also my present international groups The Sealed Knot (with
Londoners Rhodri Davies and Mark Wastell), Trio Sowari (with Bertrand
Denzler from Paris and Phil Durrant from London), or my duo
collaborations with British guitarists John Bisset and Keith Rowe are
rooted right there and became persistently supported and presented by
the LMC over the years.
Moreover, since with Benedict Drew a younger musician and music
enthusiast became the producer it gave me the impression that the LMC
has managed to gain another peak of quality.
To withdraw the funding for it now will certainly cause a very
substantial loss in cultural variety for the British capital.

Yours sincerely
Burkhard Beins, composer/performer (Berlin, Germany)

www.burkhardbeins.de

Tomas Korber

2008-01-09T13:10:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure to participate at the LMC's anual festival in 2006,
as well as at another event organized by the LMC in the same year. Not
only were the artists taken care of in an exemplary way, but I also
thought that the festival was absolutely outstanding from an artistical
point of view. In a music-world that is getting increasingly
narrow-minded and is mostly looking after superficial trends, the LMC
has an impressively broad spectrum in terms of musical orientation of
the invited artists. I hope that the LMC will get the necessary funds to
be able to carry on with its unique vision of experimental music. it's
simply one of the best organisations of its kind worldwide.

best,
tomas

Jez riley French

2008-01-09T13:09:00.000-08:00

Dear LMC,
I read with a mixture of suprise & sadness that the Arts Council are considering withdrawing funding from the LMC. It has over the years simply been a key part of experimental music, sound & art in general in this country. It is viewed all over the world with respect and no matter whether one actually is involved directly with it, it remains an important aspect of our cultural landscape. There are very, very few organisations like the LMC anywhere in the world & to think that it will have it's funding withdrawn is, in music / sound terms, of deep concern.

Over the years the LMC has been responsible for artists coming to this country & when they do that they don't only perform in London - they often continue around the UK therefore bringing thier art to many places outside London. Without organisations like the LMC many of these artists would simply not be able to afford to come to the UK as it is usually vital that they perform at least once in London or with an organisation of the quality & standing of the LMC.

Likewise, it has been a source of inspiration & aspiration to many, many UK based artists & continues to be so. Indeed it's influence & importance is greater now than at any time in it's history.

To make it clear, as an artist I have had no commisions from the LMC, nor have I performed at any of thier events thus far - I say this to avoid any 'conflict of interest' concerns.

I would like to ask that my voice be added to that of the many people who would ask the Arts Council to reconsider thier funding decision.

Jez riley French
(intuitive composer, improviser, independant curator & visual artist)

www.jezrileyfrench.karoo.net