Campaigns and advocacy

Our third meeting in the termly Climate Network series (previous events 8 October 2021 and 18 February 2022) was in partnership with the Association of British Choral Directors (abcd) and included contributions from speakers focusing in more detail on how music groups can implement sustainable policies, and the process of commissioning new music on the theme of climate change.

Our speakers for this event were:

In this recording of our webinar (original event 20 May 2022), guest speakers discussed what social prescribing is and how it could be a huge opportunity for music groups. 

Social prescribing is a key feature of the NHS’ long-term plan, which aims to strengthen the link between the local community and social activities such as music, sport, and arts. In this webinar, we discussed who does the prescribing, what kind of people are referred and what it would mean for your group to become ‘social prescribing friendly’.

We welcomed:

Our second meeting in the termly Climate Network series (original event 18 February 2022) saw contributions from Classical Declares Emergency and other speakers, providing inspiration and more ideas on what contribution music can make towards solving the issues associated with climate change - including a ‘repertoire corner’.

Our speakers discussed what contribution music can make towards solving the issues associated with climate change:

When you are developing accessible and inclusive activity and practice, it’s important to connect with the knowledge and experience of people with direct experience of barriers.

This resource lists some of the specialist organisations who provide resources, service and training. Use these links to find out more about any challenges specific to your members or that you are likely to find in your community.  

Making Music’s Climate Change Network brings together leisure-time music groups, musicians and campaigners to discuss what we can do to tackle climate change. We have created this open resource page to collate ideas, links and useful information to help groups play their part.

The categories below may expand or merge in the future and we suggest you look at all of them – we may not have filed information in the way you expect! 

In this recording of our guest speaker webinar (original event 8 October 2021), we look at the climate emergency and what music groups can do about it.

We welcome Ben See (composer and choir leader), Chris Hutchings (Choirs for Climate), Alison Burnley (Oi Musica) and Nina Vinther (singer and climate campaigner)

Topics covered include: 

• Practical measures music groups can implement

• The impact of group action, and the ripple effect

• How to use music and repertoire to communicate with a wider public

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One of the three priorities in our five-year-plan (which we started working to in 2017) is to welcome even more kinds of music groups to become part of the Making Music community. 

With a grant from the Arts Council England, we engaged Fiona Goh to look into this for us, and she delivered her report at the end of 2018. 

View the full results and analysis of Professor Stephanie Pitts' survey of Making Music member groups and their connections with local communities.

This report is the result of a substantial pilot study Professor Stephanie Pitts has undertaken which begins to give us a clearly evidenced picture of what we think is the very significant social and economic impact of music groups on their communities. We very much hope this will lead to a more extensive piece of research as we continue to pursue these important questions together.