We launched Regenerate in June 2020 in response to the global pandemic and a desire to find ways support the orchestral sector to continue to innovate during this difficult period.

We could see that the pandemic was going to offer up lots of challenges, but that there was also an opportunity to really shake things up in the sector.

The series of panel events aimed to provide debate to challenge and stretch the sector, share learnings from other sectors, and also provide a forum for individuals and organisations to come together to discuss key issues.

There have been six Regenerate events to date discussing everything from the rush to digitise content, diversity within the sector, the role of community-based work, the role of civic purpose and whether orchestras have one, and what the sector wants to look like/change post-pandemic.

Some interesting and timely key challenges for the sector have been posed by our guest panellists including:

• How can we improve understanding of the value of creative subjects? How can we increase the public appreciation of the lifelong skills they teach?

• Ensuring place-based work in communities is led and curated by the people who live there, requiring organisations, including orchestras, to relax their hold on what constitutes cultural or artistic value.
• How do we communicate the contribution of the creative industries to the economy and the improved health and wellbeing of the population?
• Many sections of society are significantly under-represented in both the artistic content output and the creative and administrative teams within the sector.
• We must create opportunities for people to input into the process in order to avoid the “parachuting in” community engagement method that leaves them feeling “done to”.

• The pandemic has highlighted pre-existing flaws in our sector in terms of digital literacy and the lack of a suitable strategy combined with the technical skills to produce content.

The series would not have been possible without our fantastic panellists and co-hosts: Rob Adediran, Grace Bremner, Paul Carey Jones, Natalie Ellis, Lucy Farrant, Jess Gilliam, Sam Glazer, Helen Harrison, Amina Hussain, Sally Lockey, Max Louth, Alissa Moore, Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, John Nolan, Yshani Perinpanayagam, Dougie Scarfe, Sarah Sutton, Kully Thiarai, Anne Torreggianni, Jo Towler, Oliver Vibrans, Kerry Watson, Beth White, Simone Willis.

We will work with the sector in 2022 to further develop our knowledge and support in the key areas of inclusion, healthcare and community collaboration.