Searching for relevant funding can be an on-going challenge (trust us we know it’s a mystifying funding world out there). But as a little pointer, here is a blog from Youth Music who may be offering just what you’re looking for.

Youth Music distributes over £9 million annually through the Youth Music Programme. The Programme provides funding for organisations to enable them to transform the musical experiences of young people.

The programme is underpinned by the Youth Music Network which is an online community for people who work in and around music education projects in the UK. Free to join, the Youth Music Network is a space for professionals to access and share a huge range of music education.

What funding is offered?

Our grant making is structured around modules rather than individual programmes. Each module is linked to a set of intended outcomes that address an identified issue or need.  Learning and participation modules encourage the growth and development of high quality music activities that impact directly on children and young people’s lives (aged 0-18, or up to 25 in special circumstances). These are direct delivery projects that achieve outcomes around young people’s musical, personal, social and emotional skills.

Strengthening the sector modules aim to encourage a stronger youth music sector by embedding capacity and expertise to support our goals (and those of a wider National Plan for Music Education) through activity that builds partnerships and collaborations, practice sharing and workforce development.

Applicants can apply for up to five modules in each funding round. The current Youth Music Programme modules are as follows:

1. Creating Environments for Musical Progression

2. Early Years Children at Elevated Risk

3. Elevated Risk

4. Music-based Mentoring

5. Open Module (applicants must meet one of our programme focus areas of Challenging Circumstances, Early Years and/or Encouraging Talent and Potential)

6. Young Music Leadership

7. Excellence through group singing

8. Networking: Building and maintaining networks *Limited availability – please contact funding.enquiries@youthmusic.org.uk for more information

9. Spotlighting: Enabling the sharing of effective practice

How do you go about applying?

Full details of how to apply can be found on the funding section the Youth Music Network website

Is there a deadline?

There are two application deadlines per year – the next one is on Wednesday 27th March 2013.

Is there a minimum or maximum to the amount of funding organisations can apply for?

In any one funding round you can apply for up to a maximum of £250,000 and you can hold no more than £350,000 worth of active Youth Music grants.

What are the eligibility criteria that organisations have to meet in order to apply?

In order to apply, we require you and your organisation to:

 - Be based in the United Kingdom.

- Represent either a registered charity; a not-for-profit organisation; or a profit-sharing organisation who is applying for a self-contained music project that will not make profits for the organisation, and demonstrates a clear benefit to the public.

- Be from an organisation that has been legally constituted for at least one year.

- Supply the following documents to support your application:

a. Most recent set of accounts, dated no more than 18 months old.

b. An equal opportunities policy and a child protection policy.

c. Your employers’ and public liability insurance.

- Propose work that will engage and benefit participants based in England.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Ayo Ogunwumiju - Grants and Learning Team at the National Foundation for Youth Music funding.enquiries@youthmusic.org.uk

2013 is well and truly here, and, as promised, we're all about Theatre here at the BBC Performing Arts Fund. We're currently working on refining our ideas and talking to industry professionals from the theatre performance world around the UK to make sure we're giving you the best and most relevant schemes to apply for.

We can't give away too much right now but here are a few things we can tell you:

- We WILL have a community theatre scheme [see Community Dance for how this might run]

- We WILL have a fellowship scheme [see Music Fellowships for what this might look like]

- We WON’T be funding student tuition fees (but you might want to read this blog & maybe have a look at this opportunity over at IdeasTap if that is what you are after).

- We WILL be giving £450,000 in funding to theatre this year

- We ARE very excited!

You can still come to us for gems related to music, dance and the performing arts in general - but anyone who has been waiting patiently for a theatre grant to sink your teeth into will soon be rewarded.



"Theatre" means many different things to many different people so we'll need a bit of consultation from you along the way to help us break it down and analyse it from every angle. We'll be asking you questions from time to time on Facebook so make sure you are following us if you want to give us your thoughts.



Right, that's enough from us for now. We'll be back soon with an update, in the meantime - go forth and perform!

Community Music grant winner, The Band, is led by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Take a minute or two to get to know them...

1. Who are 'The Band'?



The Band is a musical ensemble made up of 15-19 year olds from South London. All instruments and levels of experience are welcomed, including Western and non-Western instruments, singers and MCs, ensuring that the group is as inclusive as possible. Led and tutored by members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the group come together to create their own music for high profile community performances that happen frequently across the year. Each week the members take inspiration from blues, hip hop, reggae, soul and many more styles to create their own new tracks… with a classical twist.



Through The Band, the London Philharmonic Orchestra predominantly work with teenagers in the Orchestra’s home boroughs of Southwark, Lambeth, Lewisham and Greenwich. Members of The Band come from a range of backgrounds, and many would not normally have the opportunity to create their own music alongside their peers, so the sessions are a unique opportunity to experience and perform live contemporary music and have contact with professional musicians and workshop leaders. It is widely recognised that being a member of such an ensemble has both musical and social benefits as well as boosting the members’ self-confidence and self-esteem.

2. How will the BBC Performing Art Fund Community Music grant help the group?



The BBC Performing Arts Fund grant will enable The Band to run at full capacity for the December to February project.



The legacy of The Band and this project is to embed the group in the communities the members reside in. Although a LPO-managed group, we want the members themselves to feel ownership over the work and activities. By taking this work out into the communities we want to raise the profile of its activities and the opportunities on offer to young people in South London, and encourage more people to benefit from membership of the group.



The grant will help deliver the project’s aims of providing a nurturing and supportive environment where young people can experiment with and create music, get involved with inspirational performance opportunities and regularly work alongside LPO musicians. It will also continue to develop the valuable skills that members can use in their ongoing personal development, such as collaboration, leadership and personal reflection.

3. Tell us about the best day 'The Band' has had to date?

4. What was the best reaction from the group when they found out about winning the

PAF grant?



The next performance by The Band takes place on Saturday 22 February at Royal Festival Hall. The performance will be of their original collective composition titled Three Places in South London which has been inspired by American composer Charles Ives’ Three Places in New England, which the Orchestra will be performing that night. At the first rehearsal session for this performance one member said:



“I am so excited that because of the grant we get to do the full amount of creative sessions in the run up to our next performance. I enjoy coming along to play with people my age and appreciate learning from and getting to know the LPO musicians.”

5. Give us 3 words that describe a performance by The Band



Electric, exhilarating, inspirational.

You can follow The Band's progress by joining the LPO on Twitter or finding them on Facebook.

-

Meet the Winners is a feature introducing you to some of the groups and individuals who have recently received a grant from the BBC Performing Arts Fund. We get to hear about so many fantastic projects and people who are keeping the performing arts alive in the UK, that we thought you should know about them too.