SAVE BOOK Music & Lyrics

UK’S ONLY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

FOR MUSICAL THEATRE WRITERS AT RISK OF CLOSURE

• BOOK Music & Lyrics (BML), the UK's only weekly workshop for the professional development of musical theatre composers, lyricists and librettists, is at risk of closure after 15 years of developing UK musical theatre artists.
• The impact of the cost of living crisis on arts funding combined with the loss of their venue, the Central YMCA club, which announced its closure on 4th December 2024, has put the future of the programme in jeopardy.
• The organisation is appealing for support in raising £50,000 to secure the next 12 months of its running costs to enable it to continue to support its current writers and secure long-term funding.
• Past BML workshop members include Liz Carr (Assisted Suicide the Musical), Kit Buchan & Jim Barnes (Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York), The Season - recipient of 2020 Stage Debut Award for Best Composer/ Lyricist, winner of the Stiles + Drewe Mentorship Award), Darren Clark (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Wicker Husband - winner of the Stiles + Drewe Mentorship Award), Richy Hughes & Luke Bateman (Oy Frog -  Olivier Award nomination for best family musical, Mr Popper’s Penguins), Poppy Burton-Morgan (In the Willows- Writers’ Guild of Great Britain award for Best Libretto), Michael Conley, Joe Finlay & Richy Hughes (Superhero - Offie Award for Best Musical)