About ‘Composing for…’

Psappha has been running ‘Composing for…’ since 2013. The programme supports the creation of new works by emerging and early career composers by providing sustained, one-to-one contact with expert musicians. Please scroll down to watch and listen to the works created through our past schemes.

We include non-Western instruments in our schemes (guzheng in 2017-18, Eastern European folk instruments in 2018-19, and both sitar and freebass accordion in 2019-20).

We encourage applications from composers from different musical genres and we seek to attract applications from candidates that reflect the diverse society in England and the UK. Equal opportunities data (which we collect on an anonymous basis) is helping us to track and target those who are currently under-represented.

We publish data relating to the gender, ethnicity, disability status, and sexual orientation of our applicants and participants as we believe that transparency is an important tool to effect change.

Gender:

In 2017-18, 19% of applicants and 21% of participants were female. In 2018-19, 31% of applicants and 37.5% of participants were female. As part of our Keychange pledge we are seeking to achieve a 50:50 gender balance for ‘Composing for…’ participants by 2022.

Ethnicity:

In 2017-18, 10% of applicants and 4% of participants were from a BAME background (including those who identify as mixed race). In 2018-19, 9% of applicants and 8% of participants were from a BAME background (including those who identify as mixed race).

Disability:

In 2017-18, 14.5% of applicants and 12% of participants identified as having a disability. In 2018-19, 12% of applicants and 8% of participants identified as having a disability.

Sexual Orientation:

In 2017-18, 15% of applicants and 17% of participants identified as LGBTQ. In 2018-19, 23% of applicants and 29% of participants identified as LGBTQ.

The data above excludes applicants and participants who chose to answer “prefer not to say” in our anonymous equal opps survey.