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A City of London spokesperson said its funding will test a business case it has received from the Centre of Music
“to ensure that assumptions are robust and risks are manageable” and explore alternatives if £125m cannot be
privately fundraised.

The Centre for Music team says it is “optimistic” it can raise the capital costs, in part through future leases on
the four commercial floors. Naming rights are being offered to a lead donor provided the building’s title is
“appropriate to its profile within the City of London and its standing as an international cultural organisation”.

Early conversations with potential partners have been “encouraging”, a Centre of Music spokesperson said.

“We are confident that the private sector will play an important role in funding the centre.”

The spokesperson said the centre was being designed with the future of arts and cultural funding in mind: “unlike
other cultural venues built in the past when public subsidies were more common, we’re building commercial
spaces in from the start, which means we’ll be sustainable.”

Growing music's reach

The Barbican will run the new centre on the City’s behalf with LSO as its resident orchestra.

Guildhall’s Institute for Social Impact Research in the performing arts will also be based there. Education will be
a fundamental part of the centre’s remit and give each of the partners space to grow their education and
outreach work. It is estimated that learning activities, public events and concerts will make up roughly 70% of
events, and commercial activity 30%.

The partners say that recent concert hall openings in Hamburg and Paris demonstrate the appetite for a world-
class music venue in London: “outstanding new venues deliver an exponential increase in music audiences rather
than take audiences away from other venues.”

Market analysis to support these claims is commercially sensitive and cannot be shared, the Centre for Music
team said.