The City of London Sinfonia's Education and Community Programme was founded in 1988. Musicians from the orchestra spend 80-100 days per year making music with participants from a wide range of groups in London and nationwide.

Current projects include work with children at mainstream and special needs schools, children at Great Ormond Street Hospital, older people in residential homes, excluded teenagers, parent and toddler groups, amateur musicians and music students. City of London Sinfonia (CLS) musicians help participants to develop their abilities in performing and composing, and also work on transferable skills such as communication, leadership and team-building.

CLS musicians frequently work in collaboration with musicians from other cultures and disciplines (including DJs and performers from the Indian classical tradition) as well as with practitioners from other artforms. Recent cross-art projects have included The Cloud Road, a piece of music drama composed for and performed by a community near High Wycombe, and a music and mime project based in Leeds.

CLS's innovative Development through Music programme also uses the performing arts as a training medium for businesses and public service organisations. A specialist group of musicians devise and deliver learning programmes drawing on the parallels between a high-performing orchestra and a successfully functioning business.