CHROMA Culture and Code of Conduct
Background to CHROMA: Founded by clarinettist Stuart King in 1997, CHROMA is a London-based collective of outstanding freelance musicians engaged in new music and revisiting classic repertoire in fresh and exciting contexts; mentoring the next generation of composers, and involving people in compelling, inspirational experiences, both as audiences and creators.
CHROMA believes in offering close-up, meaningful encounters with music, making new music experiences accessible, enjoyable and stimulating, and engages in diverse mentoring, community participation and learning activity.
CHROMA’s code of conduct aligns with these values:
- To create a safe space for creativity - free of pressure, judgement, ‘politics’ and negativity
- To work in an inclusive, democratic way, non-hierarchical, looking across at each other, not up or down
- To offer each other acceptance, respect, warmth and generosity
- To appreciate and celebrate each other and everyone we come into contact with
- To maintain an environment that is encouraging and nurturing
- To foster and celebrate authenticity
- To be present in the room and with each other – we don’t get the hours back! We aim to spend them as vividly as possible, enjoying each other’s company and the work we do, supporting each other to reach higher levels of music making
- To accompany each other in Community
- To collaborate with openness, positivity and sensitivity
- To support expansion and growth for those we mentor, using our experience and empathy to hold an affirming space at what can be a vulnerable time
- To stay curious, always!
CHROMA forges its own path which is diametrically opposed to those outdated and damaging pedagogical and professional practices which still hold some sway in the classical music world.
CHROMA’s founder, clarinettist Stuart King writes:
The Story of CHROMA’s name
Derek Jarman’s life and artistic output was an early influence – he was an artist, queer activist and a role model for me, his courage, authenticity, warmth and open-heartedness resonating strongly, along with standing up for social justice and visibility for marginalised communities.
Everything about Jarman’s iconoclastic artistic standpoint, his free-ranging curiosity, skill as an artist across multiple media and championing of individual non-mainstream artists that aroused his admiration and creativity (e.g Tilda Swinton) had an influence on me as a 20-something young gay man meeting the world in London during the AIDS crisis in the late 1980s/early 1990s.
His fight against AIDS and his allegorical autobiography of this struggle in the garden and Dungeness also resonated with my inter-familial struggles as a teenager that informed how I met the world as a young adult.
CHROMA takes its name from one of Jarman’s books exploring colour, texture and the history of pigments. The Greek word is the root of chromatic, the scale that includes every one of the 12 musical tones in an octave. It is all-encompassing, rich and is in turn the basis for the musical revolution of the 20th Century instigated by Arnold Schoenberg and the Second Viennese School. This musical movement was an act of liberation from rules and paradigms that no longer served the trajectory of musical evolution.
Naming the new ensemble I created in 1997 “CHROMA” seemed particularly apt.
Today, I feel as if I am finally fully meeting the world as my authentic self, proud to be queer and free of those inner critical voices that held back parts of myself for so long. It’s a journey, an adventure and a lesson.
CHROMA has always been an inclusive, dogma-free zone; labels and pigeonholes do not feature in how we meet the world. Today society seems to want to create ever more labels to define who we are, the tribes towards which we gravitate, who we choose to love and how we identify ourselves. By accepting everyone as they are, as they choose to meet the world, in the present moment, continues to be at the heart of our culture - as true today as in 1997.
Stuart King, Artistic Director