The QoP Trust (UK) exists to propagate the values of the four Nobel Peace Laureates of South Africa --- Freedom, Peace, Reconciliation, and Hope --- by promoting musical education, and enabling exceptionally talented South African musicians to further their careers and musical education.
The board of trustees, Deborah Lavin (chair), Lauren Jacobson, and Penny Silva, alongside our director Louise Lansdown, see the partnership as crucial to supporting the development of the project. The core aims of the ARCO Project and the Quartet of Peace are closely aligned, and through this partnership we seek to build further upon the work already achieved between the Quartet of Peace and MIAGI.
The Quartet of Peace strives to promote reconciliation, mutual respect, and tolerance, through music; to create music and performances that will serve as a vivid reminder of where we came from and what we have achieved; to provide financial assistance to individuals who are financially disadvantaged, and who need additional resources in order to fulfil their artistic potential; and to address the critical shortage of qualified instrument-repair training in South Africa.
Deborah Lavin, chair of trustees said:
"The Quartet of Peace Trust (UK) sees ARCO as embodying the raison d'etre of the Trust by identifying and training a steady stream of potential applicants for support. While the Trust looks as widely as possible in selecting its beneficiaries, the partnership enables us to collaborate rather than competing for scarce funding. The partnership will seek to develop further the distinctive ARCO model combining distance learning with periods of face-to-face interaction to enlarge the pool of South African students benefiting from a musical education.