Our Capital Programme improvement works have begun, on the Britten Pears Building, as we start on our path to make Snape Maltings an accessible, sustainable, Creative Campus for all.

Thank you for your patience and support whilst we embark on this important journey to protect our precious legacy and heritage.

Britten Pears Arts was created to bring the benefits of music and the arts to our community, to enrich lives and to bring people together – making the arts useful and accessible.

Britten and Pears were inspired by the Suffolk coast and Snape Maltings’ beautiful surroundings. This striking landscape continues to be both the backdrop and inspiration for producing breathtaking performances where music and place come together.

But our tranquil location belies our exposure to imminent environmental change. This, together with shifts in the cultural and funding landscape, and our tired and outdated buildings, puts our future under threat.

We must now protect our precious legacy and heritage, and this moment presents a unique opportunity to develop our vision. Creativity, inclusivity, community and creative health are at the heart of what we do, and we will lead the way in accessibility and sustainability in the creative industries.

We will raise £13.8m (we have reached £11.3m so far) to create a fully accessible, innovative and sustainable Creative Campus that meets the needs of the full breadth of our audiences, partners and participants.

Highlights of the Capital Programme

1. Modernisation of the Britten Pears Building to enable increased levels of community use and the expansion of our Creative Health programme.

2. Upgrades to Snape Maltings Concert Hall to improve access, audience comfort and programming flexibility

3. Significantly lowering carbon emissions by installing roof insulation, photovoltaic panels, and by connecting the music buildings to a renewable heating system.

4. Improvements to outdoor public spaces and access routes, alongside the project to protect Snape Maltings from the risks of climate change.

5. A new visitor exhibition at The Red House and a Discovery Centre at Snape Maltings, to tell the rich heritage stories about the two sites.

6. Improvements to artist accommodation at Snape Maltings and in Aldeburgh.

Following a full assessment of the Concert Hall seating we are now considering the best options for making our seats more comfortable while retaining their unique aesthetic and acoustic qualities, subject to further testing and design development.

We will be launching a public appeal in 2026 for the refurbishment of the seats with naming opportunities.

If you would like to contribute before then, please get in touch with estubbs@brittenpearsarts.org.

Our spaces and our vision

Further information and contacts

We are enormously grateful for the support we have already received for the programme, and thank the supporters listed below. Read more of our vision in the East Anglian Daily Times.
 

We will be launching an appeal to our donors and members in 2026. If you would like to contribute before then, please get in touch with Emily Stubbs: estubbs@brittenpearsarts.org or Alison de Zoete: adezoete@brittenpearsarts.org. There will be naming opportunities for various elements of the project.

Updates and information will be shared with you as the programme develops further. In the meantime, we hope you will join us in our excitement about these transformational improvements.

Please see more information on our Press Releasepage.
 

For more information please email capitalprogramme@brittenpearsarts.org.

We are grateful to the following funders for their generous support.

Britten Pears Arts Capital Programme is supported using public funding by Arts Council England, and trusts & foundations, including Paul Hamlyn Foundation; 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust; East Suffolk Council Rural Business Investment Fund; East Suffolk Council Rural Business & Community Hub Fund; The Foyle Foundation; Garfield Weston Foundation; the Wolfson Foundation; the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership; the John and Penelope Lebus Trust; the Vanneck Charitable Trust.

Individual donors include Charles & Pascale Clark; Angela & John Crowther; Matthew Greenburgh & Helen Payne; Keith & Frances Griffiths; Peter & Veronica Lofthouse; Angela & Lawrence Mallinson; Lindy & Mark O’Hare; David Robbie & Fred Goetzen; Simon & Victoria Robey; Clive & Eileen Schlee; Alan Swerdlow & Jeremy Greenwood; Sarah Zins; Paul & Sybella Zisman and other anonymous donors.