Putting on events

To fully include everyone in our music activities, we need to understand the barriers that stop people from attending, taking part or progressing. In the Conversation about inclusion series of events, hear about the issues from the perspective of those who directly experience barriers and discuss what we can do to change things from within our own music groups. 

Many leisure-time music groups regularly consider making project fund applications to arts councils, trusts or foundations whilst others are considering it for the first time. This event will walk you through some of the usual things you can expect, and equip you with some best practice and tips to set you up for a much better chance of success, whether you're applying for £250 or for £250,000!

We'll talk about:

Making Music are thrilled to be partnering with one of our corporate members, Rayburn Tours, to host an online webinar, aimed at music leaders who wish to take that brilliant, brave and rewarding step into the world of touring! 

Whether it be performing in sacred cathedrals or embracing local culture, concert tours present choirs, bands and orchestras with fantastic opportunities to develop and perform to international audiences. But for many volunteer committee members the practical and logistical aspects of organising the experience may seem overwhelming and confusing!

The first of our marketing events in 2025 will discuss how social media has become a key component in many organisation’s marketing strategy. But how does it differ from ‘traditional’ marketing, what should you use it for, and how can you manage your time when there are so many different platforms available? 

In this session, we’ll look at how a social media strategy can help you define your goals in line with your overall marketing plans, manage your time more effectively, and create content to target the people you most want to engage. 

If you’d like your group and your audience to be more diverse and inclusive, thinking about how you recruit and welcome people is crucial. And if you want to increase your membership and your audiences, recruiting and welcoming new people in a way that is inclusive means you’ve more chance of success. Whatever your driver, there are actions you can take that will remove the barriers to joining your activity and provide access to more people. 

Over the last 20 years governments have introduced various creative tax reliefs to enable organisations to claim back some of their production costs. Two of these – Orchestra Tax Relief and Theatre Tax Relief – are already being used by Making Music members to claim back an average 23% of their concert and event costs. Especially now that a higher rate of relief has been made permanent in the spring budget, these tax reliefs can make a significant contribution to groups’ budgets and facilitate growth and activity.