International Guitar Foundation and Festivals, better known as IGF, is a charitable organisation dedicated to the guitar, its players, and its music. It was founded in 1993 and achieved charitable status in May 1994. We focus primarily upon:

– promoting festivals, concert series, workshops, outreach, summer schools and community outreach

– creating new music

– advancing the opportunities available for new players

– developing audiences for guitar music, throughout the UK and especially in the north east.

We create a high-quality repertoire for guitar and guitar with other instruments by commissioning new work from leading music creators, from a wide variety of musical backgrounds. We disseminate this new work to audiences via performances, workshops, recording projects and internet-based distribution. This mixture of approaches is designed to allow us to develop and sustain the widest possible audience.

We create opportunities for young players by providing performance platforms, workshops, professional advice and the highest quality training available. We also involve young guitarists in the creation and performance of our new commissioned music.

We also present a host of international talent, bringing many players, both established and emerging, for the first time to the UK.

Our work is defined by Listen.Play.Create

Listen: performance

Play: education

Create: new music