Growing your group and audiences

In this recording of our webinar (original event 18 March 2022), a panel of guest speakers discussed the challenges of recruiting and retaining volunteers, particularly in the context of the pandemic.

Volunteers are difficult to come by – increasing regulation, rising retirement ages, less regular working hours and less stable working lives have probably contributed to fewer people volunteering.

This resource is about planning and running events that are accessible and inclusive. ‘Events’ in this resource means any activity where people come together that a Making Music member group might run including: 

• A rehearsal 
• A performance 
• A meeting 
• A workshop 
• A social event 
• An online event 

In this resource we will be considering the general set-up of any event. 

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.  

Everyone who plays music and sings, or who is a regular concert attendee knows the value of these activities – for their happiness, health, social lives and the richness of the life of their community. But as people who organise music activities and events, how can we make these benefits accessible to everyone who would like to take part, and make our group environments inclusive and diverse?

Ever wonder how you could enhance your group's online presence? Can't remember the last time your website received a good spring-clean? Never fear, our brand new Website Health Check is here!

An exciting new tool specially developed for member groups, our Health Check is designed to help you find out if you are making the most of your group's site, or whether it can be improved. The tool also assesses how effective your group’s website may be in helping you to recruit new members.

The UK's leading music tour companies, creating wonderful tours to Europe for ensembles of all kinds.

Two of our member promoting groups have tried out livestreaming for the very first time, with some of our Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artist Award winners. We have collected what they learned below to help any other groups thinking about livestreaming a concert.

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.