The Foyle Foundation

ENO has been delighted to collaborate with The Foyle Foundation on a number of major projects over the last seven years, each of which have made distinctive and important contributions to different areas of our work.

In 2002 the then new Foundation made one of its first capital grants to ENO in support of the major campaign to restore the London Coliseum. This grant began an important relationship between the organisations and we are delighted to have been able to name the theatre’s Foyle Room in recognition of this contribution. Having made a significant contribution to the fabric of our building, the Foundation made a further investment, this time in the operatic talent of the future, by supporting our ENO Young Singers, then in its infancy. A lead donation over three years helped to maintain the reputation of this programme as one of the strongest in the opera world and to nurture emerging singers who will help define the quality of British culture over the coming decades. A three-year grant was given to enable the programme to become more self-sustaining over time by attracting wider private and philanthropic support. Finally, in 2009, the Trustees made a grant which involved the Foundation more directly still with our work on the stage. An important grant to our Double Bill production of Duke Bluebeard’s Castle and The Rite of Spring allowed us to present the piece with a full orchestra, which gave dazzling renditions of these two iconic scores under the baton of Music Director, Edward Gardner.

‘We have been delighted to support the work of one of the UK’s foremost opera companies and are pleased to have collaborated on projects which support each of the Foundation’s key objectives – to make the arts more accessible by developing new audiences, to support emerging artists, and to help build or improve important arts venues within the UK. The Foundation aims both to sustain the arts and to invest in organisations to strengthen and support their artistic vision. Our work with ENO has helped us to achieve these important goals’.

David Hall, Chief Executive, Foyle Foundation