Continuo Foundation

Continuo Foundation is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (charity number 1194382).

Continuo Foundation is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales that brings together donations from private individuals and trusts to support the UK's Early Music sector on a nationwide basis. Its object is to advance education in the art and science of music, in particular the appreciation of classical music heritage and historically-informed performance practice. It awards £200,000+ through two rounds of project grants each year, alongside the Continuo Connect digital initiative.

Priority Areas

Continuo Foundation supports the UK Early Music sector through competitive project grants to UK-based professional period-instrument ensembles. It backs projects of outstanding artistic merit that create meaningful work for freelance period musicians and bring period-instrument music to audiences across the UK. The foundation aims to help musicians build sustainable careers while sharing music heritage with communities nationwide. Its selection process assesses artistic quality and creativity, audience engagement and a project's potential to strengthen an ensemble. Grant making is accompanied by publicity support, advice and mentoring, and the foundation describes its relationship with grantees as ongoing and supportive.

Themes

• Period-instrument music

Geographic Focus

UK.

Eligible ensembles apply through one of the two competitive project-grant rounds held each year.

Deadlines: Two competitive project-grant rounds take place each year.

Who can apply:

• Eligible ensembles were UK-based professional groups of at least three musicians playing period instruments, or faithful replicas, with a consistent membership of instrumentalists, year-round activity and an identity as a period-instrument ensemble.

What to send:

• Applicants in this category were asked to submit a 10-minute, unedited video of the ensemble performing together.

Applying again: Previous Continuo Foundation grantees were eligible to apply provided they complied with the terms of their grant(s), including acknowledging Continuo Foundation's support on all publicity related to the project, helping to spread the word about Continuo Connect to their audiences, and submitting their post-project reports.

What the charity says:

• The proposed project should demonstrate artistic quality, creativity and originality.
• The Foundation considers how many instrumentalists will be engaged and what proportion of the grant supports artists' fees.
• The Foundation values projects that engage new live or virtual audiences.
• For recently formed ensembles, the project should be realistic and help establish the group's credentials and visibility and support its future success.
• The Trustees consider the quality of the application itself as a reflection of the ensemble's ability to deliver the project to a high standard.
• For recently formed ensembles, the Foundation prefers live concerts or tours, but will consider recordings if they would make a material difference to career prospects.
• Previous grantees may apply if they have complied with the grant terms, including acknowledging support, promoting Continuo Connect to audiences and submitting post-project reports.