Major education projects announced for 2025

16/02/2025

The Gesualdo Six © Ash Mills

Education projects with local schools have been at the heart of Thaxted Festival’s work over the last forty years. This year we have secured an impressive range of funding which enables us to extend our projects across local primary and secondary schools.

In recent years musicians from the leading London Mozart Players Orchestra have worked with groups of Key Stage 2 pupils in Thaxted Primary School to create music inspired by works performed during the Festival season. This year, thanks to vital support from local charities, together with a major award from Essex County Council Arts and Cultural Fund, we are able to extend work with our artists into other local primary and secondary schools across Uttlesford. The projects are aimed at enhancing participation and enjoyment of music by young people across the age ranges, and enabling those under 18 and their families to have increased access to our events.

During our summer season, musicians from LMP Orchestra will work with pupils in both Thaxted and Great Easton primary schools. The musicians will perform to the whole school, and then help the children involved in the workshop to select a theme for a piece which they will devise and finally perform to the rest of the school, parents and the local community. The musicians are particularly looking forward to working with Great Easton Primary and their newly opened autism hub.

At secondary level, at the Joyce Frankland Academy in Newport, LMP will conduct similar workshops, across years 7-13, and incorporating a range of instruments played by the music students. Also at secondary level, renowned vocal ensemble The Gesualdo Six will conduct a half-day workshop with the school choir at Helena Romanes School in Dunmow, helping them to assess and develop their choral strengths, and plan their future work.

In recent years during our Festival season we have offered a special price of £10 seats for those aged 30 and under at a majority of our events. Funding this year enables us to make a special offer of £5 seats at a selection of our events to those aged 18 and under, and free places for children and their families taking part in our education projects. We hope this will be a major incentive for younger people and families to experience performances by world-leading musicians in a relaxed atmosphere in our venues of Thaxted Parish Church and Thaxted United Reformed Church. And also for families, this funding ensures that our special musical event at Audley End Miniature Railway can take place to inspire and engage even the youngest children!

Funding for our Thaxted Primary School project is supported through generous grants from local charities: Hunts, Yardleys and Thaxted Fayre Trust. Saffron Walden’s British School Trust (through the Educational Opportunity Foundation) has awarded a significant sum for the work with Thaxted Primary and Joyce Frankland Academy. Our expanded work with these and the other schools has also been made possible by a substantial award from Essex County Council’s Arts and Cultural Fund for 2025-26.

Thaxted Festival Foundation Chairman Peter Donovan said: ‘We are so grateful to have secured such generous funding for our education projects this year. The extent of these awards will enable us to scale up our work with local schools at a time when music education is under such pressure from core funding sources. We are sure that this work with leading musicians will heighten students’ and families’ enjoyment of music, and involve young people in music-making which will benefit them in many ways now and in years to come.’

The Essex County Council Arts and Cultural Fund supports organisations and creative practitioners to deliver a broad and exciting range of work and activity to engage with and bring communities in Essex together. The fund, which is part of Essex County Council’s Everyone’s Essex strategy, supports projects that help economic regeneration and benefit communities. Since launching in December 2021, it has supported over 80 arts and cultural events throughout the county for residents and visitors of all ages to enjoy.