UNESCO Open Letter | Cathedral Music Trust

A letter to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to Safeguard English Sacred Choral Music

Download the letter

To: The Rt Hon Lisa Nandy MP Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport,

Cc:

Baroness Shriti Vadera, Chair, Creative Industries Council
Sir Peter Bazalgette, Co-Chair, Creative Industries Council
Caroline Norbury OBE, Chief Executive, Creative UK
Chair and Members of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State – Wajid Khan, Baron Khan of Burnley

A Call to Recognise English Sacred Choral Music as Living Heritage

We, the undersigned musicians, educators, cultural organisations, and advocates, are adding our voice to the growing campaign for the UK to recognise and safeguard English Sacred Choral Music as UNESCO Living Heritage. Internationally acclaimed, the choral tradition continues as a vibrant, evolving practice that nurtures young talent, and strengthens communities. For hundreds of years, it has contributed significantly to the UK’s cultural, creative and educational ecosystem. We want to ensure that it does so for hundreds more to come.

Without formal recognition and protection, the benefits derived culturally, socially, educationally and economically will be negatively impacted across the UK.

Despite its 500-year-old heritage, English Sacred Choral Music has lacked formal recognition as a key component in the cultural ecosystem and a living, skills-based practice. The stewardship of sacred choral music in the UK involves meeting the daily costs of sustaining world-class music while navigating significant financial pressures. Its continuation relies on dedicated practitioners, music educators, and choirs, yet policy frameworks provide little targeted support to sustain and safeguard it, with no access to National Lottery or other statutory funding available to the wider cultural heritage sector.

Recognising this art form would help to safeguard the many professional musicians employed in choral foundations and strengthen the communities that sustain and evolve its music. Recognition on the UK’s Living Heritage inventory would amplify its contribution to the strategic outcomes outlined in the Government’s Creative Industries Sector Plan: cultivating growth of the UK’s creative economy, sustaining skills development, and reinforcing our global cultural influence.

Woven into the very fabric of the nation, English Sacred Choral Music encompasses far more than performance: it represents a body of shared knowledge, skill, language, and artistry that now extends across the globe. From the training of choristers to the compositional craft of sacred music, and through rituals such as Evensong and Mass, this canon fosters community, identity, and artistic excellence.

The English sacred choral tradition generates value both as a foundational component to the UK music industry and through its current contribution of professional and amateur performers. Long-established standards of excellence sustain skills, professional networks, and performance infrastructure that feed into the wider music workforce and its economic output.

The UK music industry contributed a record £8 billion to the national economy in 2024 and supported around 220,000 jobsUK Music, This Is Music 2025; Musicians’ Union. Within this context, the role of churches and cathedrals is significant: attracting over 10 million visitors annually, thousands of professional and voluntary musicians perform world-class music every day within them, functioning not only as places of worship and heritage tourism, but as active performance venues embedded within the UK’s musical economy. There is a clear correlation beyond immediate economic measure, that the vitality of this living tradition sustains repertoire and artists of international standing, delivering cultural and artistic value that reinforces the UK’s global musical reputation while contributing to its economic success. We urge the Government to:

Safeguard English Sacred Choral Music as UNESCO Living Heritage in the UK to ensure policy frameworks reflect its living, evolving nature and its integral role in the cultural, educational, and economic ecosystem of the UK whilst supporting the ambitions of the Creative Industries Sector Plan.

Actively support programmes that sustain children and young people’s engagement in music education through this tradition, recognising the current and potential role of choral foundations within a holistic cultural curriculum.

English Sacred Choral Music is a dynamic, evolving cultural treasure.

Your support for formal recognition will ensure that this living tradition can continue to flourish, nurturing generations of musicians, and enriching communities. It will strengthen the UK’s creative economy and reinforce its position as a global leader in musical excellence. We stand ready to ensure that this living heritage endures and thrives for centuries to come and would welcome the opportunity to work collaboratively with you in this process.

Yours sincerely,

Cathedral Music Trust

This letter is supported by a further 1,467 signatories and the undersigned:

Association of Leading Visitor Attractions

Association of English Cathedrals

Royal School of Church Music

Conference of Catholic Directors of Music

Choir Schools Association

Royal Philharmonic Society

Royal Northern College of Music

Clergy Support Trust

Church Commissioners