OUR MISSION
The Chineke! Foundation was created by Chi-chi Nwanoku CBE in 2015 to provide outstanding career opportunities to established and up-and-coming Black and ethnically diverse classical musicians in the UK and Europe. Chineke!’s motto is: ‘Championing change and celebrating diversity in classical music’. The organisation aims to be a catalyst for change, realising existing diversity targets within the industry by increasing the representation of Black and ethnically diverse musicians in British and European orchestras.
The Foundation’s flagship ensemble, the Chineke! Orchestra, comprises exceptional musicians from across the continent brought together multiple times per year. As Europe’s first majority Black and ethnically diverse orchestra, the Chineke! Orchestra performs a mixture of standard orchestral repertoire along with the works of Black and ethnically diverse composers both past and present.
The Chineke! Orchestra works closely with its sister ensemble, the Chineke! Junior Orchestra, a youth orchestra of Black and ethnically diverse players aged 11-22, with senior players acting as mentors, teachers and role models to the young musicians. With many of our junior musicians already benefiting from several existing youth schemes, junior music colleges and specialist music schools across the UK. The Chineke! Junior Orchestra acts as a bridge between such schemes and higher education, giving its players experience, encouragement and confidence during their formative years, with the hope of increasing the numbers of Black and ethnically diverse candidates currently studying music at third level. This process has already begun, with several of the junior musicians having won national competitions, gained places at top music schools or been admitted to study at elite third level institutions.
Chineke! is the brainchild of Chi-chi Nwanoku CBE, who has this to say about the project: ‘My aim is to create a space where Black and ethnically diverse musicians can walk on stage and know that they belong, in every sense of the word. If even one Black and ethnically diverse child feels that their colour is getting in the way of their musical ambitions, then I hope to inspire them, give them a platform, and show them that music, of whatever kind, is for all people.’
Many cultural organisations such as the BBC, Association of British Orchestras, Royal Philharmonic Society and Arts Council England agree with this sentiment, and have supported Chineke!. After its launch concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in September of 2015, the Chineke! Orchestra was appointed as an Associate Orchestra of the Southbank Centre, and has performed there and in other major venues across the UK and Europe.
Chineke! has been covered extensively by national and international press and broadcast media, and the Foundation’s work is featured prominently in the Government’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport’s White Paper on Culture published in 2016. The orchestra was shortlisted for RPS Awards in 2016, 2017, winning the inaugural Gamechanger Award in 2019. In 2017, the orchestra made its BBC Proms debut at the Royal Albert Hall in August to much critical acclaim and returned in 2019 for the CBeebies Proms in a concert commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Moon Landings. This featured the world premiere of Hans Zimmer’s new work Earth, with the composer present to witness the performance.
The aims of the Chineke! Foundation and Orchestra are certainly ambitious, and in the words of Sir Simon Rattle: ‘Chineke! is not only an exciting idea but a profoundly necessary one. The kind of idea which is so obvious that you wonder why it is not already in place. The kind of idea which could deepen and enrich classical music in the UK for generations. What a thrilling prospect!’
Chineke! is proud to be a Resident Artistic Company at Woolwich Works and a Resident Orchestra at London’s Southbank Centre. Chineke! is part of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio of funded organisations from 2023-2026.