Awards for Young Musicians seek new Hub partners
AYM are searching for 10 new Music Hub partners to join the next phase of our Furthering Talent Connect programme in 2024.
In 2023, AYM became an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation and National Youth Music Organisation for the first time and this, along with additional major funding from long standing partner Youth Music, has enabled us to significantly expand our existing Furthering Talent programme.
This new phase is called ‘Furthering Talent Connect’ and has already seen the continued development of the fantastic work we’ve done with 10 existing ‘Ambassador Hub’ partners. We’re now looking for 10 new partners to become ‘Connector Hubs’ and further expand our support for young musicians across England. Funding for this work is currently secured until the end of March 2026.
In this new phase, we’ll grow and fund our existing network of experts across the music education sector in England. We’re calling them ‘Connectors’ and their role is to connect young people and families with musical experiences in their local area.
We know it’s sometimes difficult for families and young musicians to find the information, advice and guidance they need. Often people find this information by accident while others sadly don’t, missing the support they need for their musical development. We’re playing our part in changing this through our team of Connectors.
Already up and running in our 10 Ambassador Hubs, AYM’s Connectors exist to take away the hit and miss nature of finding information and guidance for young musicians, especially those facing barriers to accessing musical opportunities. With extensive knowledge of their local musical landscape and the national picture too, Connectors exist to find appropriate opportunities and share valuable information and advice on how best to support young people’s musical development, from music groups to funding. Their focus will be on supporting inclusion and finding young people not currently participating in any musical activity.
The programme in the new Connector Hubs does not fund tuition of a cohort of students. However, Hubs are encouraged to explore identifying and funding their own cohort of young people to join the programme.
The Connector role could be used to further enhance current inclusion work and we’re open to discussion on how it might best support current Hub activity. This includes delivering the vision, aims and strategic functions of the refreshed NPME e.g. the Local Plan for Music Education.
You can read more about the Furthering Talent programme in our 5-year review publication. You can also watch this short film about the programme which highlights some of our key learning from the most recent phase. Both can be found below and viewed on our website or by clicking the links.
To find out more about joining the programme please contact Furthering Talent Programme Manager, Neil Philips.
Email Neil.Phillips@a-y-m.org.uk, or call 0300 302 3418.