recruitment

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. 

Many choral societies have told us that they have challenges with attracting new members. While this is definitely not the case for all choral societies, last year Making Music undertook some research to identify what might be the barriers to new members joining choral societies.

The majority of our member groups are run by a committee - a group of enthusiastic people who care about their group, want to see it thrive and are willing to take responsibility for making that happen. As well as enthusiasm, a committee position requires good organisational skills, a willingness to give up some spare time and the ability to co-operate with others. And like most things in life, being on a committee will very often give you a sense of achievement and fulfilment – but it can also be tedious and frustrating, especially when things are not going right.

Struggling to recruit younger members? In this guidance, reprinted from the Autumn 2016 issue of Highnotes, Making Music’s Youth Engagement Manager Xenia Davis has some suggestions.

The biggest barrier to young people joining music groups isn’t repertoire, or classical music being perceived as ‘stuffy’, or the age profile of the group.

Many music groups tell us they find it challenging to attract younger members. With the help of a generous legacy from lifelong choral singer Pauline Thompson, we have been able to compile a bank of resources aimed at helping you to reach out to under-35 year olds.

We'll continue to add to these resources, but in the meantime if you think we're missing something that would be helpful for groups like yours, or if you have any questions,  just get in touch. 

Our research into engaging under 35 year olds in music groups pointed to a need for better outreach and publicity. Young people might not be specifically looking for a group to join, or might not be aware of groups in their area. So instead of waiting for them to find you, go to where they are! But where might they be? Here are a few ideas to get you started.

1. Go to local businesses and offices

Most offices will have a fair number of under 35s amongst their staff. Try the following:

The majority of our member groups are run by a committee - a group of enthusiastic people who care about their group and are willing to take responsibility for running it. Even if you don’t have something formally called ‘a committee’ it is likely that you have a group of people who work together to run your group and so the overarching themes in this resource will still be relevant. 

Similarly whilst the resource refers to constitutions and charities, if your group is not a charity or does not have a constitution the main themes are still applicable.