What was founded in 1997 by family members of the man who had a long career as a teacher?
Bush's long career as a teacher influenced generations of English composers and performers. Tippett was never a formal pupil, but has acknowledged a deep debt to Bush.  Herbert Murrill, a pupil of Bush's at the RAM in the 1920s,   wrote in 1950 of his tutor: "[T]here is humility in his makeup, and I believe that no man can achieve greatness in the arts without humility ... To Alan Bush I owe much, not least the artistic strength and right to differ from him". Among postwar Bush students who later led distinguished careers are the composers Edward Gregson, Roger Steptoe and Michael Nyman, and the pianists John Bingham and Graham Johnson.  Through his sponsorship of the London String Quartet Bush helped launch the careers of string players such as Norbert Brainin and Emanuel Hurwitz, both of whom later achieved international recognition.Bush's music was under-represented in the concert repertoire in his lifetime, and virtually disappeared after his death. The 2000 centenary of his birth was markedly low key; the Prom season ignored him, although there was a memorial concert at the Wigmore Hall on 1 November, and a BBC broadcast of the Piano Concerto on 19 December.   The centenary, albeit  quietly observed, helped to introduce the name and music of Bush to a new generation of music lovers, and generated an increase in both performance and recordings. The centenary also heralded an awakening of scholarly interest in Bush, whose life and works were the subject of numerous PhD theses in the early 20th century. Scholars such as Paul Harper-Scott and Joanna Bullivant have obtained access to new material, including documents released since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and Bush's MI5 file.  This, says Bullivant, enables a more informed assessment of the interrelationships within  Bush's music and his communism, and of the inherent conflicting priorities.In October 1997 family members and friends founded The Alan Bush Music Trust "to promote the education and appreciation by the public in and of music and, in particular, the works of the British composer Alan Bush". The trust provides a newsletter, features news stories, promotes performances and  recordings of Bush's works, and through its website reproduces wide-ranging critical and biographical material.
It continues to monitor  concert performances of Bush's works, and other Bush-related events, at home and abroad.At the time of Bush's centenary, Martin Anderson, writing in the British Music Information Centre's newsletter, summarised Bush's compositional career:
Bush was not a natural melodist à la Dvorák, though he could produce an appealing tune when he set his mind to it. But he was a first-rate contrapuntist, and his harmonic world can glow with a rare internal warmth. It would be foolish to claim that everything he wrote was a masterpiece – and equally idiotic to turn our backs on the many outstanding scores still awaiting assiduous attention.
The Alan Bush Music Trust