Amid the encircling gloom of cuts there is light!  Ex Cathedra, I believe, is poised to enter its golden age. 

 

But our funding from Birmingham City Council for next season has been cut by nearly £11,000 in addition to a £4,000 cut already announced by Arts Council England.  There is great uncertainty around our funding from April 2012, and there is a risk that we could lose our funding entirely.

 

That is why I am asking for your help.  At this time, we need your support more than ever to help us continue to deliver great music made in Birmingham.  Please be an Angel and make/renew a donation today.

 

You can see the extraordinary range of our work in films which we have just completed.  You will find them on our website:

www.excathedra.co.uk (13’)

www.excathedra.co.uk/singing_playgrounds.php (3.40’)

 

We have recently had successful debuts at the Edinburgh International Festival, in Champagne, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and at Cadogan Hall, London.  2011 includes a celebration of my 60th birthday in February, and our New York debut in March 2011.

 

Future plans are equally exciting and after 40 years I believe even more passionately in what we are doing.  We are a unique resource for the region and no other city in the country has anything comparable; Ex Cathedra needs to be allowed to flourish.

 

We have diversified our sources of income.  Full houses and generous private donations have certainly helped.  I believe in Public Funding because our work is for public good.  We need the stability of this income to leverage in funding from other sources. These are difficult times but our ethos and all we have achieved are threatened if politicians opt for safe and conservative solutions to cutbacks.  We may be able to persuade them to change their minds. We represent very good value for money.

 

But to ensure our survival we need more true philanthropists to step up and help to maintain our work.  Ex Cathedra has the Promethean fire and optimism – we also need your financial support!  Please give generously.

 

Be an Angel!

Thank you,

 

Jeffrey Skidmore