Youth Music Trailblazer Fund (Round 7) – United Kingdom

Deadline: 30-Aug-2024

The National Foundation for Youth Music is offering grants to organisations in England to run projects for children and young people (25 or under) to make, learn and earn in music.

Funding Themes

• Early years
  • For children aged 0–5 who face barriers to accessing music-making because of their circumstances or where they live. They encourage programmes that promote:
    • Access to quality, creative musical experiences that support children’s developmental needs.
    • Shared learning between early years specialists, music specialists and parents, so that all become skilled, confident, and engaged in encouraging young children’s musicality.
    • Workforce diversification.
• Disabled, d/Deaf and neurodivergent young people
  • They encourage programmes for young people (aged 0–25) that:
    • Ensure that they have equitable access to progress in music in a way that meets their needs and aspirations.
    • Provide routes for Disabled young people into the workforce (where appropriate).
• Young adults
  • For young adults aged 16-25 who want to take their music further, or for whom music can support wider personal and social outcomes. They encourage programmes that:
    • Improve young people’s confidence, skills, social networks, and emotional wellbeing as well as providing specific mentoring, networking, and industry opportunities.
    • Increase and enhance engagement with employment, education, and training.
• Youth justice system
  • For children and young people (aged 0-25) who are, have been, or are at risk of being involved with the youth justice system. They encourage programmes that:
    • Are youth-led and offer culturally relevant and engaging music programmes that promote personal and social outcomes alongside musical development.
    • Work in partnership with other organisations and agencies to support safeguarding and progression and ensure that young people’s needs are met.
• Young people facing barriers
  • For children and young people (aged 0–25) who face barriers to music-making due to their characteristics or life circumstances, or because of where they live. They encourage programmes that:
    • Are youth-led and offer culturally relevant and engaging music programmes that promote personal and social outcomes alongside musical development.
    • Work in partnership with other organisations and agencies to reach young people facing barriers and ensure that their needs are met.
• Organisations and the workforce
  • Work that benefits the people and organisations who provide inclusive musicmaking opportunities for children and young people (aged 0-25). They encourage programmes that support and encourage:
    • Organisations to be innovative, resilient, and inclusive.
    • A diverse workforce that is networked, and skilled in inclusive practice with children and young people.

Funding Information

• Amount: Grant sizes are between £2,000 and £30,000.
• Length: Projects last between 6 and 24 months.

Target Organisations

• Small organisations who support children and young people to make, learn or earn in music.
• Those who work with children and young people facing barriers who want to trial a new music offer.
• Established organisations that want to test a new way of working or disrupt the status quo.

Eligibility Criteria

• You must be able to answer yes to all the statements in this section before you make an application.
  • You are a constituted UK based organisation
    • Sole traders, and individuals, can’t apply to this fund.
    • If you are a voluntary group not registered with Companies House or the Charity Commission, you must have a constitution and management committee.
    • You must be legally constituted before you submit your application.
      • If your set-up date is less than one year before the application deadline, you can apply for a maximum of £15,000.
  • You are not a school or academy
    • Schools and academies can’t apply to this fund. This includes primary, secondary, PRUs, and special schools.
  • You have a bank account in the name of the organisation
    • They can only pay grants into the bank account of the organisation that submitted the application. You’ll need to give evidence of this if you’re offered a grant.
  • You have a set of recent accounts
    • They expect to see accounts that:
      • Show your total income and expenditure for the last financial year (often called a profit and loss or a statement of financial activities); and
      • A summary of your assets and liabilities at the end of the year (often called a balance sheet).
      • These should be less than 18 months old.
      • You’ll need to upload these with your application.
  • You have the correct insurance in place and comply with all relevant statutory legislation
    • Correct insurance includes employers’ and public liability as a minimum. Copies of your insurance must be available on request.
  • You are keen to develop your organisation
    • They want to fund organisations that are open to developing. This means evaluating and reflecting on what you do, engaging with Youth Music, and being collaborative. They try to be honest with themselves about what is and isn’t working. And they want the organisations they fund to be the same!
  • Current grantholders
    • If you already have a grant from them:
      • You must be up to date with all your grant requirements.
      • You cannot hold a Trailblazer Fund grant at the same time as a Catalyser Fund grant. If you hold a grant from a different Youth Music fund, then you may be eligible to apply to the Trailblazer Fund. Speak to your Youth Music contact for advice before starting an application.

For more information, visit The National Foundation for Youth Music.