Guidance

There are many terms related to LGBTQ+ issues and it might seem overwhelming at first. But fret not - this glossary should help you better understand your LGBTQ+ members as you work on getting your music group to be more diverse and welcoming.

Working with transgender singers in your music group might be a new experience, but breaking it down into smaller steps would better enable you to support your transgender members on their music making journey.

In practical terms, much of the guidance from our LGBTQ+ inclusion guide is applicable when working with transgender singers. This guide, written by Dr Kathleen Cronie and Dr Michael Bonshor, will provide some extra information about the following questions:

Sometimes LGBTQ+ people encounter barriers to getting involved in music making, but by making some simple adjustments to your practice you can work towards creating a more inclusive environment where they can thrive in your group.

In this recording of our webinar (original event 25 September 2023), Making Music launched INCLUDE, our 18-month inclusion programme where we will work with four member groups to explore what leisure-time music groups can do to include more people, from a more diverse demographic, in their regular activities.

In this recording of our webinar (original event 22 September 2023), guest speakers discussed what it means for a music group to be 'social prescribing friendly' and the rewards and challenges that come with engaging with social prescribing.

Social prescribing is an NHS scheme where medical services can refer patients to community-based activity to improve their health and well-being. It offers a huge opportunity to benefit music groups and positively impact their communities. 

We welcomed:

Understanding how the demographics of your members or audiences compare to the make-up of your geographical community can be helpful when planning your strategy, performances, or community engagement plans.  

We have created a census comparison survey to help leisure-time music groups collect data from people who belong to your group, or attend your events, so you can directly compare it to the UK government's Census 2021.  

Traditional concert environments are not always the easiest places for people to come in, but by thinking creatively we can remove many of the barriers that stop people being able to come.

This agreement, reached between the Musicians' Union and Making Music in 2017, and updated in 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023, provides guideline minimum rates for groups when engaging freelance professional musicians. We hope that this will provide a simple and effective aid to ensure that members are able to budget for, and professionals able to receive, a fair rate of payment.

We are very pleased to have renewed our agreement with the Musicians’ Union which is now in its sixth year.  

At the heart of your music making is the people, whether that's members, potential members or audiences. But if you're struggling to attract new people or keep your current people engaged, could there be barriers that you're unaware of?

Use the resources below to review and make the changes you need to welcome more people.

These resources aren't exhaustive, and we're constantly reviewing, updating and adding to them. We would be happy for you to contact us with suggestions. 

This page forms part of the Making Music Platform help guides for existing users of the Service. On this page you will be able to view video guidance to help you use a range of functions and aspects of your Platform. The video guidance below should be used alongside the written help guides. 

All of the Making Music Platform help guides and latest Platform News can be found on the MM Platform Service Hub page.

On this video guidance page you will find the following videos: