Café Oto made partner of new music fundraising initiative

Wednesday, 15 May 2013

Sound and Music have announced that Café Oto will be part of a two-year initiative exploring the public’s appetite for new music commissions. The ‘Catalyst Fund’ consortium, led by Sound and Music with the London Sinfonietta and Hudderfield Contemporary Music Festival, will see each organisation run trials involving crowd funding, mobile giving, online giving and cultivating mid-level donors. The £129,500 Arts Council award will enable each partner to launch innovative fundraising campaigns that supports work by British composers.

Hamish Dunbar, founder, of Café Oto, said: ‘Being part of this consortium will enable us to find new ways to support musicians and bring music to new audiences. Through working with our consortium partners we hope to continue to sustain, develop and expand the community that has built up around the venue.’

Based in Hackney, Café Oto opened in 2008 with the aim of providing a home for creative new music that exists outside the mainstream. It hosts a programme of adventurous live music almost seven nights a week.

In March 2012, Hamish Dunbar was announced the winner of the inaugural Genesis Prize. The £25,000 award – one of the most generous in the arts sector – is the only prize of its kind to recognise outstanding mentors of young artistic talent, inviting nominations from all art forms. The award enabled Hamish to establish the Associate Artists Programme at Café Oto. The Genesis Foundation, the UK based charity established by John Studzinski in 2001, initiated the biennial prize to mark the charity’s first ten years of nurturing and developing emerging talent in the UK.

For further information on the Catalyst Fund please visit Sound and Music’s website.