Youth Music funded projects: what’s been the impact in 2011 - 2012?
Making a difference through music: Youth Music releases its annual report exploring the impact of funded projects in 2011 – 2012.
Each year Youth Music and our partners on the ground make a real difference to lives of thousands of children and young people across the country. Grant holders report back about how Youth Music's investment has changed the lives of children and young people they work with.
Youth Music analyses each of the final reports and evaluations it receives from funded projects to establish the areas of work that are having the greatest impact, and where funded projects are experiencing challenges or obstacles. The Impact Report presents these findings alongside a review of activity directly undertaken by Youth Music to achieve change in 2011/12. You can learn more about how we use the report data submitted by projects in this blog.
Supporting music projects across England
Thanks to the intelligence we receive from music education project leaders we are able to identify and support the projects that can have the biggest impact on young people’s lives. This year we have supported more projects than ever before, but we’re still oversubscribed. We have stepped up our fundraising activities to enable us to increase the number of projects we are able to support in future.
The government’s first ever National Plan for Music Education was launched in November 2011, promising to improve access to music education for all children and young people, and to encourage partnership working between adults involved in music projects. Youth Music plays an important role by making sure that all the projects we fund are connected up, working together and learning from each other. Through our on-going research we are able to identify those local organisations that are best placed to meet the needs of kids with least opportunity, and in the most challenging circumstances.
Workforce development: building online and offline communities
Throughout 2011-2012 Youth Music continued to invest in workforce development, recognising the positive effects of having a highly skilled and qualified workforce delivering music making to children and young people. At a time where CPD budgets are being cut left, right and centre we are encouraged that 82% of practitioners employed through Youth Music grants had the opportunity to undertake CPD in 2011-2012.
There were many reports of advances and improvements in increasing the professionalism of music practitioners. These were identified by practitioners themselves, as well as those employing them. Practitioners reported an improvement in their own practices, especially around reflecting on their own work and how best to cater for different musical needs of children and young people.
Some grant holders reported a concerted effort to increase the diversity of practitioners taking up employment opportunities and using the support services available. These organisations saw an increase in the ethnic and social diversity of practitioners working in particular locations.
The Youth Music Network, launched in November 2011, replaced and built upon the work of the MusicLeader programme, which came to a close in March 2012. The online community is fast becoming an essential place for practitioners to make professional connections and to share their learning and experiences with others. The Network currently has over 3,200 users.
Transforming young lives through music
Projects funded by Youth Music were led by 1,046 music leaders who worked with 111,361 children and young people this year! However it's not just about the numbers. It's been really impressive to see the ways in which children and teenagers’ lives have been changed by taking part in a music-making project. Projects report on the impact music making has had on three different groups of children (which often overlap), and on the skills of the adults who work with them.
See the major findings from Youth Music projects in each of these key areas.
Children and young people facing challenging circumstances (click image for full size version)
Babies, toddlers and children aged 0-5 (click image for full size version)
Kids showing musical talent and potential (click image for full size version)
Developing the music-leading workforce (click image for full size version)
The report also gathers statistical information about the type of projects funded by Youth Music.
Music genres used by projects (click image for full size version)
Age of children and young people participating in projects (click image for full size version)
Challenging circumstances faced by young participants (click image for full size version)
Looking ahead
- We’ll make sure that we continue to provide music-making experiences for children and young people who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity
- We’ll use our learning to best represent the experiences, perspectives and needs of children and young people, so that we can advocate the benefits of music on their behalf
- We’ll step up our fundraising activities to raise more money than ever before, so that we can fund more projects and bring more music-making opportunities to the kids and teenagers who need them most.
- We’ll use our national expertise to make sure that project funding gets to the areas of the country that need it most
- We’ll support the adults who run music projects to work together and share their knowledge, particularly by extending the reach, influence and usefulness of the Youth Music Network
Read Youth Music’s Impact Report
You can read the full Impact Report 2011-2012 here.
Find links to all the research publications referenced in the Impact Report 2011-2012 here.