Beyond Borders supports the creation, touring and promotion of innovative and high-quality new music across all genres and encourages engagement with audiences across the UK and Republic of Ireland.

Beyond Borders is a co-commissioning and touring programme run in partnership with Creative Scotland, Arts Council of Wales, Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Arts Council of Ireland / An Chomhairle Ealaíon.

This opportunity stimulates collaboration between organisations and bands/ensembles in England, Northern lreland, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It enables music creators to produce exceptional new material to be performed in at least three of these countries.

Funding of up to £15,000 is available for projects that include new commissions, recordings and repeat performances of music written in the past five years. Support is given to up to 8-10 projects per year that represent:

• Innovation and quality within the music, programming and performances, and potential for national/international profile.

• Strength and depth of collaboration between cross-border organisations/ensembles/bands and potential for partnership legacy.

• Potential audience reach and impact and the strength of plans for public engagement.

Previous Beyond Borders successes have included Songs of Separation, a collective of 10 female English and Scottish folk musicians whose album won ‘Best Album’ at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2017, and David Fennessy’s ‘Panopticon’, commissioned by Hebrides Ensemble and Psappha, which won the Scottish Award for New Music for Small Scale work. Martin Green’s ‘Flit’, combining live music and animation which reflects on first hand stories of migration, also won over audiences and critics nationwide in 2016, and was funded through Beyond Borders.