Serious is the UK’s leading producer of live jazz, world and new music. Working with partners at home and internationally, they have changed the landscape for contemporary non-classical music in the UK and continually strive to create a climate in which new work can flourish. They commission new work, present a huge variety of different concerts and tours and produce events such as the annual BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music and the London Jazz Festival. This activity runs alongside their innovative outreach and audience development initiatives, which introduce new generations to the music.

Over the last twelve months they have worked with more partners throughout the UK and internationally than ever before. As Associate Producers at the Barbican, they have been able to present more work there and have enjoyed a much closer artistic relationship. Work at the Barbican in the last twelve months has included the Revival concert, which was produced for the Black Police Association to coincide with the start of last year’s Black History Month. This was a joyful and celebratory event, which drew many new audiences to the Barbican for the first time.

2005 was also a stellar year for the London Jazz Festival, which Serious produce. It consisted of 206 groups playing 165 events in 35 venues across the capital.  The Festival was voted Best London Festival by Time Out readers.

Early in 2006 they worked with the youth organisation Bigga Fish to co-produce Urban Classic,  a groundbreaking collaboration between some of the UK’s most talented young grime artists and the BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Charles Hazlewood. This was a meeting of different musical worlds, made possible by a long development process, which culminated in a performance at Hackney Empire. To get a sense of the project, click here

Their professional development work continues to expand with the Take Five scheme, giving UK artists working within jazz a valuable opportunity to take time out to reflect on the path ahead and time to address their most pressing career needs.

Serious’ work continues to be shaped by their international outlook and active membership of networks, such as the Europe Jazz Network. In March 2006 they produced a series of new collaborations, concerts, discussion forums and workshops in London, Paris and Budapest entitled A Jazz Odyssey: Music & Migration. With artists ranging from Hugh Masekela to Congolese-Danish-American jazz legend John Tchicai involved, this initiative looked at how music has been shaped by migration patterns across Europe and presented a positive view of the impact of migration on European societies.