African composers should not appear only as occasional additions to programmes built elsewhere. Orchestral Arts Africa will commission, workshop, perform, document and record new orchestral work, with a particular commitment to South African and African composers.
The programme can include commissions, composer laboratories, readings, co-commissions, premieres and recording projects. It should also create the documentation and rights frameworks that allow strong work to circulate beyond a single performance.
The ambition is cumulative: to help build a repertoire that orchestras can programme, audiences can encounter and that can circulate nationally and internationally as part of contemporary orchestral life.