Campaign Launched to Help Save BOOK Music & Lyrics Development Programme For Musical Theatre Writers
The programme is appealing to musical theatre fans and funders across the UK to help secure its future.
BOOK Music & Lyrics, the UK's only professional development programme for musical theatre composers, lyricists and librettists, is at risk of closure after 15 years and is appealing to musical theatre fans and funders across the UK to help secure its future.
An increasingly difficult fundraising climate paired with the sudden closure of their venue, the Central YMCA club, in December 2024 has left the future of the organisation uncertain. A core ethos of BML is to ensure that its courses are accessible to writers across the UK. Course fees cover less than 50% of its running costs, and it relies on fundraising to cover the remainder. BML also offers up to 10 bursaries a year.
Established in 2010, BML has been proud to serve as a vital space for nurturing the next generation of musical theatre creators through weekly collaborative workshops for librettists, composers and lyricists. Led by established professionals, BML workshops provide a practical, structured environment to learn from tradition while advancing the form, offering essential peer support and encouragement.
2024, saw two musicals hit the West End with writers who attended the BOOK Music & Lyrics workshops. As well as being named ‘Best Musical Theatre Development Programme 2024' by SME News, BML writers were chosen for the first three years of Stiles & Drewe Mentorship Awards between 2016 and 2018, and they regularly feature as finalists or runners up for the Stiles and Drewe Best Song Prize. BML alumna Eden Treadwell won the prize in 2021.
Past workshop member Darren Clarke (The Wicker Husband, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), winner of the Stiles + Drewe Mentorship Award, said: "It's safe to say that my career would not be what it is today without the incredible tutelage and mentorship that I received through my time on the BML course. Having a musical in the West End has long been a dream of mine and I can almost guarantee that it would never have happened without the skills, craft, support and community I gained from the BML course."
Previous BML participants Jim Barne and Kit Buchan (Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)), recipients of the 2020 Stage Debut Awards for Best Composer/ Lyricist, said:
“BOOK Music & Lyrics is the first thing we recommend to anybody with an interest in writing a musical. Apart from the trove of knowledge on offer, it also fosters collaboration and (most importantly) community in the student body. It gave us the opportunity to take ourselves seriously as musical theatre writers, and provided us with techniques that we still think about on a daily basis.”
Richy Hughes (Oy Frog - Olivier Award nomination for best family musical, Mr Popper's Penguins, Superhero - Offie Award for Best Musical) said:
“Without BML I would still be filling notebooks with unfocused lyrics and telling friends that I am going to write a musical one day. The workshop gave me three C's - the craft to hone a lyric, the collaboration skills to ensure that the lyric is optimally set, and the contacts to get the resulting song heard by the right people. Thanks to the workshop I am now a lyricist and bookwriter with confidence in both my abilities and my voice, and have had my work seen in theatres across the UK and US. My writing journey has taken me to New York, Ireland, and Malawi, and that's just this year. I credit BML for my continuing Musical Theatre adventure and recommend the workshop to all practising and aspiring writers.”
The organisation is seeking to raise £50,000 to secure the next 12 months of running costs, including funding for new venue hire, which would enable them to continue supporting current writers.
BOOK Music & Lyrics founder, David James, said: “For 15 years BOOK Music & Lyrics has been nurturing musical theatre writing talent. In this difficult financial climate, it's ultimately the writers of tomorrow that are going to suffer as programmes like ours cease to be viable. That would be a tragedy for the future of British musical theatre. We are a relatively small charity providing unique and exceptional services to the arts, and we desperately need help to get us through this difficult period. Please donate to help the future of British musical theatre.”
DONATE HERE - https://donorbox.org/save-book-music-lyrics
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