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OUR PURPOSE
OUR PURPOSE AND MISSION
We believe everyone should have the opportunity to discover the richness of our musical heritage in live Early Music performances.
Our mission is to help the musicians in the sector to flourish while sharing 800+ years of music repertoire with audiences nationwide, enriching the lives of people in communities across the country.
Everything we do builds a financially sustainable, artistically vibrant future for Early Music in the UK.
WHAT WE DO
FUNDING OUTSTANDING PROJECTS
We conduct two competitive grant rounds each year, selecting the most outstanding projects and then helping see them through to a successful conclusion. Our grants have enabled players and singers to unleash their creativity and to earn their living while sharing inspiring and uplifting music with audiences across the UK.
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FUNDING OUTSTANDING PROJECTS
SUPPORTING FREELANCE MUSICIANS
Beyond providing funding, Continuo grants have become a mark of quality helping musicians succeed, particularly those in smaller and emerging ensembles which are less known. Our grants have become recognised as an endorsement - of both the project and the ensemble - which has led to greater success with concert organisers and other funders. Our grant making is also designed to transfer skills and offer mentoring.
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SUPPORTING FREELANCE MUSICIANS
GROWING THE SECTOR
We created - and continue to invest in - Continuo Connect to amplify the sector's visibility and to scale up our impact. The digital hub supports our grant making, and enables discovery of artists, concerts and engaging features. Continuo Connect also provides a platform for all participants in the sector to work together to capture the public's attention and develop audiences across a wider, more diverse footprint. A flourishing future relies on growth.
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GROWING THE SECTOR
BROADENING ACCESS TO INSPIRING LIVE MUSIC
Through Continuo Connect and our social media presence, we are improving the visibility and discoverability of artists and events beyond what is possible with individual websites. Comprehensive, easy-to-search concert listings are enabling audiences to find nearby concerts, anywhere in the UK. This saves time, increases attendance and widens access to information to develop new audiences in new locations.
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BROADENING ACCESS TO INSPIRING LIVE MUSIC
CHAMPIONING THE UK EARLY MUSIC SECTOR
The UK has a world-class historical performance sector developed over the last 60 years. Its continued existence relies on freelance musicians who combine talent, curiosity, and scholarship in a unique way. The boundaries of early music have expanded to encompass 800 years of music heritage, with repertoire ranging from medieval to new music composed for period instruments.
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CHAMPIONING THE UK EARLY MUSIC SECTOR
OUR STORY
Established in 2020, Continuo Foundation has taken an entrepreneurial approach to creating a privately-funded charitable organisation focused on supporting the UK's world-leading Baroque & Early Music sector and the music heritage it preserves.
With the backing of an exceptional group of Patrons, Advisory Panel members, and Trustees, Continuo has awarded a total of £1,070,000 to UK period-instrument ensembles, enabling 256 artistic projects that have resulted in paid work for over 1,300 freelance musicians and 705 performances and recordings which have enriched the lives of 350,000 audience members across the UK and online.
In 2023, we unveiled Continuo Connect, a website for the UK early music sector. Born from the insights gleaned through our grant-making relationships, this platform empowers artists, raises their profiles, amplifies their work, and makes discovering nearby events easy for music enthusiasts old and new.
Continuo Connect invests in the marketing and promotion of the artists and festivals on the platform. This "window into the world of early music" also aims to multiply audience discovery and concert attendance across the UK and across a more diverse footprint.
In 2024, we achieved a five-fold increase in monthly website visitors, and in 2025 there were over 150,000 visits to the website by people from across the entire UK and beyond. Over the period from March 2023 to the end of 2025, the Continuo Connect newsletter subscriber base grew tenfold.
Together, Continuo’s two strands of activity - project funding and Continuo Connect - support and reinforce each other, fuelling growth, building confidence and strengthening the community of Baroque & Early Music audiences, musicians and festivals.
We believe that music of the highest quality should reach every region of the UK and that musicians should thrive, financially and artistically - and we are working to make this happen.
