A Fairer Hearing is an attempt to disentangle the prevailing systems of music commissioning and the thinking behind them. In doing so, it considers a number of key questions. What importance should funding bodies give to the creation of music in relation to the support they give to its interpretation? Why is so much new music commissioned, when so little of it is played more than once? Which audiences do the funding bodies have in mind when they fund and commission a new work: today’s or tomorrow’s? And what more can be done to assure this music a place in the recorded, performed and printed repertoire of the next century?

The report examines current commissioning practice, identifies concerns and proposes a series of options, before concluding that those who encourage, fund, and manage commissions need to look again at why they do so. Only when that question has been answered will they be able to choose better ways to direct commission funds, improve the experience of commissioning for all concerned and further exploit the investment made in new work.

Keith Allen is an arts administrator and consultant. On graduating from Sussex University, he spent two years touring the Antipodes with a stage hypnotist, before joining Battersea Arts Centre as production manager. He took off to West Virginia for three months to help establish an arts centre before returning to London to work as temporary administrator of the Puppet Centre; he stayed for four years. He has been working freelance since 1990.

Phyllida Shaw is a researcher and writer specialising in arts policy and management. She has worked extensively for the British arts funding system, arts organisations, central and local government, higher education institutions and charitable trusts and foundations. She is an adviser to the Baring Foundation on arts in education and the community and is a regular contributor to Classical Music and Artists’ Newsletter.