Ronnie Scott's Charitable Foundation

Help inspire and support the next generation of jazz talent.

The Ronnie Scott’s Charitable Foundation is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the support of jazz and music education in the U.K and beyond. Launched in December 2015, the charity’s aim is to ensure that music education is accessible to every child and young person. By raising and distributing funds, gifting musical instruments, and working with other organisations to create and develop youth music educational programmes, the charity has benefitted thousands of school children in cities across the country, and around the world.

Big Band in A Day.

Open to any student of music anywhere in the UK, Big Band in A Day is a free-to-attend, outreach scheme organised by the Charitable Foundation. We invite developing young musicians to join us at the club where we provide a core grounding in the skills, disciplines and sounds of the big band. To promote inclusivity, we also produce all-female “Big Band in a Day” sessions to encourage young female players to play more jazz and help increase their level of confidence. 

The Foundation regularly invites local or in-residency jazz artists to work with schools in London. For example, the legendary drummer Billy Cobham took part in a workshop involving Soho Parish School. Led by jazz pianist and educator, Pete Letanka, children were given the opportunity to perform and compose in the style of internationally renowned drummer Billy Cobham. Billy himself practised with the children and then joined them in a performance at Ronnie’s, which was an unforgettable experience for everyone involved.

Musical Instrument Amnesty.

The Ronnie Scott’s Charitable Foundation organise a bi-annual Musical Instrument Amnesty, collecting the city’s unused musical instruments - from violas to saxophones and state-of-the-art mixing desks – which are then donated to school-aged children in the UK and overseas, enabling musical education amongst communities across the world. Over the years, the Ronnie Scott’s Musical Instrument Amnesty has welcomed several high-profile donors. The Grammy and Brit Award-winning Sam Smith donated a white violin from his iconic 2015 Brit performance of ‘Lay Me Down’ – the violin travelled from London to the Harrogate Brigantes Rotary Club along with other donations which were then shipped to the MusicArt Society, a charity in Nepal which teaches disadvantaged children to play donated instruments. British multi-instrumentalist Nithin Sawhney donated a guitar, Neil Cowley a violin, and two specially commissioned trumpets have been made courtesy of two-time Edison Award-winner and American trumpeter Christian Scott.

Organisations working with children can apply for and secure funding from the Ronnie Scott’s Charitable Foundation.
How can you help? By:

- Donating, when you buy a ticket to the club, via Just Giving (https://www.justgiving.com/ronnie-scotts) or via the club     website
- Donating unused or unwanted musical instruments at one of our bi-annual Musical Instrument Amnesty days
- Buying a ‘Champagne Socialist’ cocktail next time you visit the club. Because all proceeds go to the Ronnie Scott’s     Charitable Foundation!

Find out more contact – [email protected]