Dear Campaigners It is incredibly important that we get our local Councillor (especially Belfast City Councillors), engaged with, and supportive of this campaign, as well as the Assembly members. Ive attached a list of the emails for all the Councillors in Belfast City Council to this post and once again, Im going to ask you to all to spend 10 minutes emailing as many of them as you possibly can, asking for their support. A completely comprehensive list of the BCC Councillors is here minutes.belfastcity.gov.uk/mgCommitteeMailingList.aspx?EM=0&ID=0 Naturally, if you are outside Belfast, you can and should also email your own local councillors to ask for their support. Please do use the style wording below as a template email to save yourself time, but if you do, please can you tweak it and personalise it so the Councillors understand why it matters to you. EVERY EMAIL REALLY MATTERS SO PLEASE HELP. Thank you! Group Admin Dear [name] Message on behalf of the Save the Ulster Orchestra Campaign I am writing to give you more information about the crisis facing Northern Ireland’s only professional symphony orchestra and to ask you to do all you can to help us prevent the imminent closure of the Ulster Orchestra. As you are doubtless aware, the Ulster Orchestra is in grave financial difficulties and will close in weeks if additional funding cannot be found. The Orchestra is considered by many to be the lynch-pin of musical activity in Northern Ireland through its concerts, its tuition and its community and educational outreach activities. In addition to its cultural and educational contribution to the province the Orchestra is also a significant economic contributor to Northern Ireland. For every £1 of public money the Orchestra receives from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, it contributes about £2.62 in return to the economy here. Background Over the last four years the Orchestra’s funding from the Arts Council of and from the BBC has declined by 28%, a sum of around £1 million. Neither players nor staff have had a pay rise since 2008, and the Orchestra has not toured for 10 years. We understand that the Orchestra’s AGM was due to take place on 15 September but at that time, as the Orchestra’s Chairman Sir George Bain told the Assembly on 21 October, the Board was not in a position to confirm its belief that the Orchestra would be solvent for the next 12 months The AGM was postponed until 15 December, and the Orchestra is now hoping and working to find a solution and proposal which can safeguard its future before then. The Save the Ulster Orchestra Campaign Since news of the Orchestra’s plight became public knowledge last month, individuals from all across the community have voiced their strong support for the Orchestra. As a result of a hugely successful social media campaign to ‘Save the Ulster Orchestra’, over 11,000 people have already signed a petition asking the Northern Ireland Minister for Culture, Leisure and the Arts, Carál Ní Chuilín to give assurances that secure and permanent funding to ensure the Orchestra’s survival will be found. The campaign has also collated hundreds of testimonials and memorabilia showing the depth and strength of support from all corners of the province and beyond all of which will be presented to the Minister along with the petition itself next week. Alongside the many thousands of ordinary people involved in the campaign, over the past four weeks the campaign organisers have also secured the support of many outstanding musicians, artists, writers and cultural luminaries including Dr Brian Friel, Sir Kenneth Branagh, Lord Dunleath, Sir James Galway, Peter Corry, Tasmin Little, Nicola Benedetti, Barry Douglas, Alan Davies. Joyce Didonato and Phil Coulter. The many messages of support and goodwill are posted on the Campaign’s Official Facebook page, ‘Save the Ulster Orchestra’. Working alongside the Orchestra, the campaign has already organised several ‘pop up’ concerts in shopping centres around the province and plans are in place to stage the province’s first orchestral ‘flash mob’ over the next few days. It is crucial to that the plight of the orchestra remains visible at this crucial time and whilst the details of the flash mob remain a closely guarded secret, the intention is that some lucky unsuspecting people will be treated to a wonderful, spontaneous orchestral experience. What are we asking you to do? We are writing to ask you to do all you can to KEEP THIS CAMPAIGN VISIBLE over the coming days and weeks. You can help by: Remembering to discuss the fate of the Orchestra publicly and privately with your colleagues and friends and using your influence to try to persuade them to support a rescue package for the Orchestra. Asking pertinent questions about the current crisis if and when you have the opportunity again, both in public and in private. A list of suggested questions is given below for your convenience only:- If the Orchestra is allowed to close, how do you propose to replace the cross community educational and outreach work it currently undertakes within Northern Ireland? Would you accept that there is a huge difference for the province between having a full-time professional symphony orchestra residing within, and accessible to, the whole community and ad hoc concerts given by players who are not normally resident in the province? How would you propose to attract potential investors in Northern Ireland’s burgeoning film industry if the province has no professional orchestra on tap to record film scores? If the Orchestra is allowed to close how would you explain to the 60,000 people who applied for 11,000 tickets for the Proms In The Park last year, that there will be no more Proms In the Park in the province? If the province loses its only professional orchestra, who do you intend will inspire, teach and mentor Northern Ireland’s future musicians, particularly since Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK without its own music conservatoire to train musicians at tertiary level? Do you accept that to lose the province’s only professional symphony orchestra would be an embarrassment for Belfast, which only recently sought to be awarded the title of European City of Culture? Would you feel disappointed if Northern Ireland became the only part of the United Kingdom without a professional symphony orchestra? Joining in our social media campaign and publicising it to your own colleagues, friends and followers by joining the ‘Save the Ulster Orchestra’ Group on Facebook; liking ‘Save the Ulster Orchestra’ page on Facebook’; and following @savetheUO on Twitter and RT-ing its links to your followers. Contributing your own ideas, questions and suggestions publicly to the debate. Signing the online petition (if you have not already done so) available at change.org/p/the-northern-ireland-executive-plea…. This is not a rehearsal. The Orchestra will close imminently if a solution cannot be found. For the sake of Northern Ireland’s current and future musicians and music lovers, and the reputation of the province both nationally and internationally, please will you do all you can to help prevent this happening? Thank you. [your name]
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 23:18:28 +0000
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