With the desire to make the classical music sector have a broader appeal, regardless of where someone lives or their background, Arts Council England commissioned research to understand the barriers to entering, remaining and becoming successful in the classical music sector.

Alongside DHA Communications, ICM Unlimited took a three-phased approach to tackling this topic, conducting a data audit, literature review and workforce survey.

The research shows that cutting across all other factors, people from lower socio-economic backgrounds struggle to get fair access to a full range of learning, training and job opportunities in classical music.

The outputs from the research will work as a springboard to start discussions in the sector, with the aim of shaping future work and policy. The Arts Council responded to the findings of the research with nine key actions.

All elements of the research findings, alongside Arts Council England’s response, can be found here.