Music-making programme supports children facing tough circumstances to develop their talents
7th December 2016
Awards for Young Musicians (AYM), an organisation helping young people from low-income backgrounds to progress musically, has been awarded funding for the second phase of its Furthering Talent programme. National charity Youth Music has invested in Furthering Talent for the next two years, enabling AYM to help many more children as well as providing professional development opportunities for music teachers.
The new phase sees AYM continuing to partner with local Music Education Hubs in Brighton & Hove, Greater Manchester, and Staffordshire & Stoke on Trent, as well as expanding to two further hub partners in Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.
Furthering Talent supports young people to shape their own musical journeys, creating individual learning plans and setting progressional goals. Each young musician taking part is given weekly instrumental lessons free of charge. Their instrumental teachers are provided with the information, networks and resources to help pupils identify and achieve their ambitions.
Additionally, Furthering Talent organises regular get-togethers for children to participate in all kinds of music-making, along with their families and carers. The programme also provides training for teachers to learn about key facets of musical potential so that they can nominate children who would benefit most from taking part.
In the new phase of the programme, AYM will be introducing Practical Progression – a brand new strand of resources and training, created by teachers for teachers. The resources will be published on the Youth Music Network, Youth Music’s online community for music education professionals, along with details of events.
Hester Cockcroft, AYM’s Director says: “The financial and social barriers these children face would be insurmountable without the programme’s help and they would have no chance of progressing in their music-making. Furthering Talent has already had significant impact for the young people, their families and their teachers, and we’re delighted to be working with Youth Music and our Hub and other partners to further develop the model across the next two years.”
Matt Griffiths, CEO of Youth Music says: “All too often, children receive instrumental lessons in school for a short period of time, then have nowhere to go next. We believe music-making opportunities should be long-term, sustainable and available wherever they’re needed. The Furthering Talent project is creating strong support networks, allowing young people to continue their musical journeys however they choose.”
