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ROUND TEN GRANT APPLICATIONS
K'antu Ensemble
ENSEMBLE INFO
Ensemble Contact:
Ruth Hopkins
Email:
Ensemble Connect URL
UK Registered Charity No:
N/A
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
K’antu Ensemble is seeking support to expand the number of performers involved in our 2025 tour of K’antu at Christmas.
This vibrant, narrated programme explores the origins of Christmas Traditions from around the world.. Blending period instruments, voices, percussion, and movement, the programme is designed to connect with audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
Provisionally booked across three weekends in November and December 2025, at a mix of heritage and rural venues, as follows:
22–23 November: A Festival Weekend at Brantwood (National Trust), Coniston Water, as part of the Lake District Christmas Lights celebrations, featuring four concerts and two participatory workshops, in partnership with the Ambleside Christmas Switch-On.
7 December: A traditional and relaxed Christmas concert at Selly Manor, a historic Tudor museum in Birmingham, with accompanying family workshop.
14 December: A concert and community workshop at Lea Barn, a rural arts venue near Maidenhead.
K’antu is a team of multi-instrumentalists and singers, known for performances that feature fluid changes of instrumentation throughout.
Provisional bookings currently financially allow for three performers per event, however the programme is conceived for a six-piece ensemble. Touring with our full line-up enables us to perform SATB vocal arrangements and fully realise the dramatic and musical scope of the repertoire. It also brings to life our wide instrumental palette – including violin, recorders, lute, plucked psaltery, guitar, percussion, and voice – allowing for varied textures, dynamic contrasts, and deeper audience engagement.
With support, we will upgrade all events to feature our full ensemble, ensuring the highest artistic quality. It will also allow us to deliver our signature participatory workshops, which rely on live ensemble interaction, SATB harmony, and instrumental variety to create a rich, multi-sensory learning experience.
Workshops will be designed for children, families, and SEND participants, with relaxed and sensory-friendly sessions planned in both Birmingham and the Lake District, reflecting our long-standing commitment to inclusive music-making. Audiences will include local communities, schools, families, and those in rural areas with limited access to live early music.
To support future touring and bookings, we will work with a filmmaker to professionally document the project. Performances will be filmed at Brantwood (a modern concert space) and Selly Manor (a historical Tudor venue), producing contrasting video material for use on social media, Continuo Connect, and in promoter pitches.
Here is a documentary about our outreach programmes:: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=rVR1xwJmjIA
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Performances Since 2022:
23/4/2022 – Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon
30/7/2022 – All Roads Lead to Alexander* – 2 day inclusive music and heritage festival curated and delivered by K’antu Ensemble for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Cultural Festival
14/1/2023 – St Endellion Concert Series, Cornwall
15/1/2023 – Calstock Arts, Cornwall
21/10/2023 – Everything to Everybody: Shakespeare Festival – Interactive Music and Dance Events
15/2024 – CHIME SEND Music Festival* – inclusive music festival co-curated and led by K’antu with young people with SEND
18/2024 – Wedmore Festival with Nonsuch History & Dance
29/11/2024 – Perry the Bull Cultural Celebration* – multi-sensory musical event for the Commonwealth Games legacy programme
17/1/2025 – Bring the Power School Festival* – for children with SEND
16/8/2025 – Bring the Power Community Festival* – intergenerational inclusive festival for Families
31/5/ 2025 – Ambleside Christmas Lights Switch-On, Coniston
13/9/2025 – Bournville Heritage Open Day, Selly Manor*
10/10/2025 – Roseland Music Society, Cornwall
11 /10/2025 – Cotehele (National Trust) – Historical Dance Workshops
12/10 2025 – Calstock Chapel, Cornwall
*Complete Festivals curated and performed by K’antu Ensemble, documentaries below:
Shakespeare Festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxSDn-6ep88
Bring the Power Community Festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGrfmTAbwJg
All Roads Lead to Alexander: All Roads Lead to Alexander Project Documentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCIIyzAMehQ
Since Covid, many of our regular promoters have struggled to fund full ensemble performances. In response, K’antu Ensemble pivoted to focus on community outreach, supported by extensive funding from the Commonwealth Games Festival, Bring the Power, and the National Trust. From 2021 to 2024, we have delivered an average of three workshops per week in schools and community settings, with a strong focus on inclusive music-making for children and young people with SEND.
We also run an ongoing internship programme in partnership with the University of Birmingham’s Music Department, offering early-career instrumentalists and vocalists practical training, shadowing, and performance experience within our outreach and mainstage projects.
Our ensemble is made up of diverse performers with varied cultural backgrounds and artistic specialisms, and our leadership reflects a strong commitment to inclusive and representative practice.
Our innovative programming regularly features rediscovered works and repertoire by diverse composers, particularly from Latin American and Sephardic traditions, alongside Renaissance and Baroque music. We also create site-responsive performances that integrate historical dance and narrative, drawing on specialist training undertaken by our team, including bursary-supported work with the Early Dance Circle.
PROJECT COSTS
Number of performers:
Instrumentalists:
Vocalists:
Other:
Project Income (£):
Ticketing/Fees:
Public Funding:
Other trusts/foundations - confirmed
Other trusts/foundations - pending
Other
Income - Total sources
4000
3470
900
8370
Project Expenses (£):
Artists' fees
Artists' travel/accommodation
Venue - Rehearsal/Concert:
Recording/Filming:
Marketing/Publicity:
Management/Contingency:
6400
1500
2100
2000
600
750
Total Project Costs:
13350
Amount (£) of Grant Requested:
4980
Detailed Budget (Download):
IMPACT OF GRANT
This grant would enable K’antu Ensemble to return to touring in our full 6-piece formation — our signature format that showcases multi-instrumentalists who also sing in SATB harmony. Since Covid, many music clubs we previously worked with have closed or reduced budgets, meaning we now perform in smaller line-ups and have limited opportunities to present the full breadth of our work. The grant would allow us to revitalise our core format, support employment for our freelance musicians, provide hi
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