Funding will enable thousands of UK lesiure-time music groups to benefit from increased support and advocacy.
Making Music is thrilled to have been awarded a grant from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. The award of £199,980 over three years will enable Making Music to offer even more services to its 4,000 member groups and empower them to advocate for their activity and the benefits of music making.
Esmée Fairbairn Foundation is the largest grant makers in the UK, aiming to strengthen bonds in communities, improve our natural world and secure a fairer future.
The grant will allow Making Music to continue to support its members in all aspects of running their groups and improving their financial resilience through a range of admin and finance resources and services, such as Making Music’s Orchestra Tax Relief service. A dedicated Support Officer has been appointed to help groups using Making Music Platform – an all-in-one management system combining a website, a members’ area and an admin database – funded by the Esmée Fairbairn grant in the first year.
Members will also be able to access new online resources and events on access and inclusion, produced in partnership with organisations representing people with lived experience of barriers to participation.
Alison Reeves, Making Music Scotland Manager since 2016, will now also lead work on access and inclusion and support lobbying and advocacy as part of an expanded role as Deputy CEO, made possible thanks to the Esmée Fairbairn grant.
Barbara Eifler, Making Music Chief Executive, said:
“We are delighted to receive funding from a grant maker whose vision of vibrant communities is one that Making Music entirely shares. This funding allows us to scale up our support for music groups of all kinds and all genres, empowering them to manage their activity, to bring joy, pride and well-being to their audiences, and to articulate their worth to policy makers.”
