Youth Music launches second round of Fund C
Today we are pleased to publish the application guidelines for the second round of Youth Music’s Fund C grant awards. Successful organisations will play a key strategic role in helping Youth Music achieve a musically inclusive England.
About Fund C
The aim of Fund C is to expand and embed high quality, inclusive music-making, working collaboratively across a defined geographical area.
We know that there’s still an imbalance when it comes to access and progression in music-making, whereby many children and young people nationwide - particularly those experiencing challenges in their lives - miss out on opportunities to regularly make music, to progress and fulfil their potential.
We want to tackle the current imbalance by increasing the number of organisations who are adopting, embedding and improving musically inclusive practice, both within and beyond Youth Music’s grants portfolio.
You can find out more about how Youth Music and the organisations we invest in are addressing this pressing issue in our Theory of Change diagram (on page 14 of the applicant guidance notes).
We’ve used our learning from the current Fund C programme portfolio, as well as consultation with key music education delivery and funding partners, to develop the application criteria and core activities.
Outcomes
Fund C programmes will work towards five to seven intended outcomes across all Youth Music outcome areas (musical, personal, social, workforce and organisational).
This time round, two of these intended outcomes have been set by Youth Music:
- Workforce: improved quality of music delivery for children and young people.
- Organisational: increased musically inclusive practice in Music Education Hubs
Application process
Fund C has a two-stage application process, with the stage one application deadline on Friday 23 June 2017. The stage one application form questions can be found at the back of the applicant guidance notes – the online form will be available in mid-May.
Stage two will involve a face-to-face interview, with final decisions being made by Christmas 2017 and a negotiation period (for firming up partnership plans and submitting a strategy document) in January and February 2018.
Next steps
The scale and scope of the work we require from Fund C means that it won’t be suitable for all organisations. We’ll be making a maximum of 15 grants and the application process is likely to be very competitive.
Before applying, we recommend that you do the following:
- Take a look at the summary information about the fund to determine whether it’s suitable for you
- If it looks appropriate, read the full applicant guidance notes
- Once you’ve thought about who you will work with and what you want to do, then contact a member of our Grants and Learning Team to discuss your application in more detail on 020 7902 1060 or grants@youthmusic.org.uk