Could sponsorship of GCU be the key to connecting your business with the community and enhancing your brand?

About the choir

Goldsmiths Choral Union (GCU) is one of London’s leading choirs. Members are auditioned and we perform classical choral music, including works by contemporary composers, in London’s top concert halls with professional orchestras and soloists.

We put on four of our own productions each year, two in major concert halls (for example Cadogan Hall and Smith Square Hall, formerly St John’s Smith Square) and two in churches, one of which is a Christmas concert with carols for choir and audience. All are conducted by our Music Director, Jack Apperley jackapperley.com who joined us in September 2022.

Jack is an energetic, enthusiastic and supportive conductor who focuses not only on accuracy and emotional depth, but also excellent tone in our singing, and he achieves high standards from the choir. We are often hired to sing for additional concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Festival Hall and the Barbican Hall. We rehearse once a week, in a central London venue, so we appeal not only to singers based in and around London, but also those who commute to London.

Our ambition

GCU was founded in 1932 and our ambition for our centenary in 2032 is to perform at The Proms. In order to achieve this ambition, we need ongoing financial support over the next ten years, which will enable us to provide choral scholarships for young singers, support young professional singers and orchestral players, and allow the choir to continue to put on concerts at top venues.

We generate as much of our income as possible from concert-ticket sales, members’ subscriptions, and the sale of advertising space in concert programmes. We often collaborate with other choirs.

Partnership packages

There are several different ways in which you can support us, which are outlined here, although we are always happy to discuss other ideas. We are a registered charity, and your support will therefore enable you to claim tax relief and your business to demonstrate community partnership for the arts. Depending on the amount invested, sponsors and partners will have the opportunity to engage a small choral group free of charge for workplace functions, for example.

Available Packages

1. Sponsor the Choir – from £1,000 annually

2. Sponsor the Conductor - £1,500 per concert

3. Sponsor a Soloist - £500 per concert

4. Sponsor the Orchestra - £8,000 per concert

For every £1,000 sponsored, GCU can provide a quarter page advert in our programme, four tickets to each of the four concerts GCU promotes, and two invitations to our annual drinks reception, held in a Central London venue and to which our patrons will also be invited.

Additionally, two tickets will be available to take part in our two annual, unauditioned ‘Summer Sings’, our popular workshops featuring well-loved favourites from the classical choral repertoire.

All sponsors will be acknowledged in each of our programmes and will feature in our social media posts.

Partners donating £5,000 or more will have the opportunity to engage a small choral group free of charge for workplace functions, for example Christmas parties.

How will your support help us?

We have a clear strategy to enable us to achieve our ambition of performing at the BBC Proms in our 100th Anniversary Year in 2032. This is set out below:

Increasing membership: During Covid, in line with many other choirs, our membership fell from around 120 members to around 80 members. We are actively recruiting singers in all voice parts by advertising on social media, and contacting music directors of London university choirs, as well as targeting local businesses. There are two major recruitment opportunities a year: at the start of September when the academic year begins, and in early January when the calendar year begins. We aim to recruit a minimum of 10 singers at each of these times over the next three years, and we aim to build the choir numbers up to at least 140 members.

Improving standards: Since Jack Apperley took over as conductor standards in the choir have risen considerably. Every member of the 120-strong choir has either been auditioned or reauditioned within the last two years, and the tone and technical ability of choir members has improved considerably. Nevertheless we are not complacent and we will work to attract new members each year to join this flourishing choir which is really going places!

Website: We have already designed and published our website, and we plan to upload more video clips and photographs both of rehearsals and of concerts so the high standards of the choir are clearly demonstrated to potential partners and also organisations who might want to hire us.

Media exposure: We will work with national music critics to ensure that our major concerts are reviewed in the national press. We also plan to produce a programme charting our progress over the next ten years.

Advertise in our programme: Would you like to bring your organisation to the attention of our discerning audiences and our performers? You can take out an advert with us by emailing Arabella here: GCU.arabella@gmail.com. The rates are £500 for a full page, £250 for half a page and £125 for quarter of a page.