Jump to main content

Creative Producers

With a track record spanning more than 20 years and a provenance that dates back further, Serious is an organisation which combines the highest artistic quality across a range of contemporary music, with social purpose, through its ambitions and skills around diversity, reach, access and social cohesion. 

The company makes a major contribution to the arts world through a national programme that is internationally recognised. Working with a network of partners to ensure the greatest reach for our work, each year we produce over 630 events, work with over 2,600 artists, reach live audiences of over 320,000 in over 300 venues and have a digital reach of 44 million. 

For organisations which choose Serious as a creative partner, we make connections and collaborations and bring innovative content, expertise and flair to achieving our shared goals. We are skilled artistic entrepreneurs who produce everything from major concerts and festivals, to national and international tours and specially commissioned bespoke events. Our core team are supported by a network of freelancers from a variety of disciplines, and also handle marketing, production and every logistical detail, delivering a range of high-quality projects with style.

Artistic Consultancy

  • EFG London Jazz Festival - the capital's biggest pan-city music Festival in Europe and the highlight of the jazz calendar in the UK, with over 300 shows across more than 70 venues drawing over 100,000 in live audiences. Created in 1992 by Serious, the Festival takes place annually in November and has long been acclaimed for showcasing a heady mix of talent from around the world.
  • Associate Producer at Barbican - We work with our friends at Barbican throughout the year as a producing partner on their jazz and contemporary music strands, drawing on our shared passion for the performing arts to shape a vibrant and wide-ranging programme of music. 

'The series has turned into one of the most prestigious jazz events on the international circuit.'

The Guardian
  • K-Music - Since 2013, Serious have been working in partnership with the Korean Cultural Centre to bring Korean music ranging from Korean rock to classical, to British audiences across multiple venues in London. 
  • Thamesmead Festival - Organised by local people and Serious with a programme packed full of home-grown talent, the day features live music, dance, performance, food and family activities. 
  • Barking & Dagenham - As part of Serious' commitment to offering a programme of free and affordable events, we host two weekends of entertainment in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham during the EFG London Jazz Festival offering an exciting programme, including free pop up performances, affordable gigs, community workshops and more.
  • Royal Docks

International Collaborations

  • Aga Khan Music Awards - Since 2018 Serious have worked in partnership with the Aga Khan Music Initiative and Ismaili Centre London to produce the Aga Khan Music Awards. The three-day event which features concerts, musical presentations, a symposium, exhibition, and the awarding of prizes highlights the exceptional creativity, promise, and enterprise in music in societies across the world in which Muslims have a significant presence.
    The new event brought to Portugal a constellation of the world's leading musical talents from the Muslim world for an event of global importance in the arts.
  • BT  River of Music - This once-in-lifetime two-day free festival of live music from all Olympic and Paralympic nations, welcomed the world to London the weekend before the Olympic Opening Ceremony, was conceived and created by Serious, who were responsible for the development and delivery of the entire event.  1,530 artists from all 204 Olympic nations performed across six massive stages at iconic outdoor sites on the Thames, displaying a kaleidoscope of the word's best contemporary and international music. 
  • Hillside Festival

National Projects

  • Ludovico Einaudi: The Illustrated Afternoon - Alongside his sold-out UK concerts in 2019, Ludovico Einaudi created three special afternoon performances in London, Coventry and Nottingham called The Illustrated Afternoon. For a man who never speaks on stage, during those performances he talked about how he had been inspired to create the music for his latest album Seven Days Walking, screened some of the films that he'd made of his walks, and played some of his favourite pieces from the album.

Yes - we are best known for producing the EFG London Jazz Festival, and yes - our office is based in London. But in fact our work spreads far beyond the capital into every city, town and village of the UK. Yes - even as far as my teeny tiny home town of Glossop, Derbyshire.

But seriously, Serious' programme of Creative Engagement, Talent Development, Touring and Digital work exists to identify thriving areas where we can harness regional creative energies, and to pin-point cold-spots where we can bring culture to those most isolated.

Serious believe that the creative and cultural activities we produce should not just be for the people of the UK, but with them. We use our portfolio of national projects to reach people, establishing relationships with landmark venues, grassroots community hubs, and all those in between.

Our vision at Serious is that all people can engage with music in a way which benefits them, represents them, and matters to them, and this begins with an understanding of people's creative and cultural needs, an active national presence and a relevant programme which is constantly evolving.

Milly Price - Head of Creative Engagement