Les Ratcliffe Jaguar Land Rover’s Head of Community Relations presents the National Jaguar
Land Rover Arts & Business Corporate Responsibility Award
to JTI’s Head of Community Relations, Karen Orchin and the Ulster Orchestra’s
Head of Development Tracy Marshall at the 33rd
Arts & Business UK Awards in London

Tracy is pictured after the awards ceremony with the UO’s Fund Raising Officer Heather Wright, JTI’s Karen Orchin, Rosey O’Keefe, Community and Events Assistant  Community Relations Manager Ruth Farrer–Langton and Corporate Events Manager Joanna Craddock.

30 May 2012

Ulster Orchestra & JTI Win top UK Award

The Ulster Orchestra and its major corporate supporter JTI have jointly won the National Jaguar Land Rover Arts and Business Corporate Responsibility Award at a special ceremony in London.

1,000 people have participated in Move to the Music, a transport and ticket scheme which offers older people in rural areas transport to concerts in Belfast via door–to–door community transport buses, a concert ticket and programme and a hot drink at the venue.

The JTI Lunchtime Concert Series has proved to be extremely successful with 11,000 people attending across the past two seasons, while the concerts themselves exceeded predicted ticket sales by £10,000. The Ballymena and Belfast Christmas Concerts have also played to capacity crowds over the last three years with 3,350 people attending for free or with subsidised tickets.

Tracy Marshall, the Ulster Orchestra’s newly appointed Head of Development attended the awards ceremony in London and was delighted with the recognition achieved for Northern Ireland. “JTI’s partnership with the Orchestra has helped to deliver new artistic programmes and wider community access to concerts which many older people could never have hoped to attend.

“The success for our supporter, for the Orchestra and for the Arts in Northern Ireland cannot be underestimated. This is the kind of engagement that simply would not be possible without the kind of philanthropic funding provided by JTI. This is a real partnership between arts and business for the benefit of the whole community and a tremendous example to other business organisations contemplating how they can effectively reach out to the community in which they do business,” she said.

One beneficiary of the Move to the Music scheme from County Armagh said, “I could never have afforded to travel to Belfast to hear the marvellous Ulster Orchestra but I was picked up at my door and taken there. It was a unique and life changing experience. I found it an incredible uplifting thing in an otherwise lonely existence.”

Karen Orchin, Head of Community Relations at JTI, commented: “As a major employer in Northern Ireland, we are committed to contributing economically, culturally and socially to the community. It’s fantastic to be recognised in this way for our support of the Ulster Orchestra.”

Mary Trainor–Nagele; Chief Executive, Arts & Business NI said: “I am delighted that JTI and Ulster Orchestra lifted the Award for Corporate Responsibility it’s very well deserved. It was a proud moment when the winning entry was announced and we were delighted that this Northern Ireland partnership has been recognised at the UK Awards. This project signifies the very essence of corporate responsibility and how arts and business can work together in perfect partnership.”