QUICK LINKS:
Template Letter to write to your MP
One Pager – ASMF & the Value of International Orchestra Tax relief
Due to circumstances beyond our control we are asking all our friends to raise their voices, urgently, in the direction of the UK government.
We are calling for the reversal of a recent change in Orchestra Tax Relief which narrows the eligibility of orchestral projects which can claim valuable financial benefit for their work. Now, only activities that take place “within the UK” rather than “from within the UK” are eligible.
As you travel around the world, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields is named again and again as one of the UK’s best-loved cultural exports. We are unique in that we give more than 90 concerts and deliver a major social purpose programme every year around the world without subsidy from Arts Council England.
Although we are an orchestra that is proud of our ability to thrive without regular support from Arts Council England, the provision of Orchestra Tax Relief – which has been applied to all orchestras from 2016 – has been transformative, enabling us to significantly increase our activity across all aspects of our work.
We are extremely concerned, therefore, that our international performances are now being made ineligible for Orchestra Tax Relief.
We estimate that this change means ASMF will receive c.£400,000 less Orchestra Tax Relief each year. The direct impact of this is that we will be able to deliver far fewer projects both around the world and here at home.
Over the past three years, the amount we have claimed in orchestra tax relief has been vastly outweighed by the amounts we have subsequently been able to earn around the world and bring back to the UK. We estimate that for every £1 of international orchestra tax relief we have received, we have brought £10 back to the UK.
Here’s a little bit more detail….
Earned concert fees around the world are paid to UK-based creative freelancers:
- Orchestra tax relief enables us to take more risk on concerts and tours outside the UK. These projects can earn income as much as c.£1,000,000 across a tour – the majority of which is then paid back to our UK-based freelance musicians as fees. In the 2023/24 season, more than £3,200,000 income was generated internationally and paid back into the UK economy in this way.
- Without orchestra tax relief, we will not be able to take on as much risk or as many projects and therefore will need to turn down a number of these sorts of projects, significantly reducing the income we raise and bring back to the UK.
Fees and fundraising income internationally is then invested into UK-based work:
- Where orchestra tax relief enables more activity which helps us to be profitable, as a charity we invest these profits back into UK-based concerts and community programmes which are loss-making and therefore require subsidising to be viable.
- We raise fundraised income internationally, for example through our 501(c)(3) The American Friends of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. In the 2023/24 season, we raised more than £500,000 of charitable income outside the UK which directly enabled the work that we then carried out in London and across England. Without a busy programme of performances, enabled by orchestra tax relief, we would not be able to raise this income.
- As I mentioned above, we have tripled our investment into our education work and work with people experiencing homelessness in response to need. In addition to our fundraised income, tax relief across our international programme is key in enabling us to invest in a full and busy programme or brilliant work that benefits people in the UK – without subsidy from Arts Council England.
©Jon Rees – ASMF’s work with people experiencing homelessness at Stone Nest 2024
International reputation and soft power benefits:
- The Academy of St Martin in the Fields is the only orchestra to have ever been awarded the Queen’s Award for Export Achievement.
- When we travel and perform around the world, we are very proactive at entertaining dignitaries and people of influence to advocate for UK arts and culture and the quality of British music-making around the world.
- With a broad audience of more than 90,000 people internationally, we cooperate with partners around the world to present British music-making of the highest standard and strengthen our cultural position abroad.
- It is clear that across the political spectrum, our representatives are aware of the ways in which diplomatic leadership is bolstered by the soft power of our world-leading cultural institutions, and that rather than running these institutions down all parties express an intention to work across government to bring leading creative and cultural institutions together to increase the UK’s international clout. To reverse this recent change to how orchestra tax relief has successfully operated for years would be an effective contribution to this aim.
©Zach Mahone – Joshua Bell & ASMF at Bravo Vail
Welcoming supporters and visitors as tourists back to the UK:
- The Academy of St Martin in the Fields is a popular and much-loved brand around the world. Fans of the orchestra come to visit us in London, to see concerts at the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields and to spend money in the country.
- An example of this is our recent celebrations to mark the centenary of Sir Neville Marriner in April 2024, which saw more than 30 of our US donors come and stay for the week in London.
©Matthew Johnson Photographer – Anastasia Kobekina & ASMF at St Martin-in-the-Fields 2024
We know that we are not alone in finding this shift challenging – although as we are one of the rare orchestras that operates commercially at our scale in the UK without subsidy and a safety net from Arts Council England, this is not an issue faced by the whole sector. Arguably, the fact that our model is rare and the benefits outlined above not leveraged by more organisations in our sector make it even more important that, where they are present, they are nurtured and preserved.
As friends of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, we would be grateful if you could support us by writing to your MP, sharing our campaign online, or just helping us to spread the word.
With your help, we believe we can make this compelling case to government and ensure that the Academy of St Martin in the Fields – and, indeed, all UK orchestras with an international presence – can continue to deliver the benefits of working around the world back to the UK for years to come.
Thank you for your support,
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields
LINKS:
Letter template for writing to your MP.
One Pager – ASMF & the Value of International Orchestra Tax relief