The doubling-up money comes as part of The Big Give’s Champions for Children campaign, supported by the Childhood Trust. The money will go to support young musicians with the Fund’s next round of scholarships and is an ambitious target because they have twice as many students following the cancellation of last year’s intake during the pandemic.
Established in 2011, the London Music Fund is an independent charity and was this year’s winner of the ‘Outstanding Musical Initiative’ prize at the 2021 Music & Drama Education Awards. Its mission is to enable talented children from under-served communities to access quality music education. The charity works with London’s 32 Music Education hubs and other educators and providers across the city and has invested more than £3 million to date. 542 four-year scholarships have been awarded with 63% of them going to children from Black, Asian and ethnically diverse backgrounds.
In addition, The London Music Fund has supported over 50 music projects with arts organisations, ensembles and venues, giving involvement in music to more than 10,000 young people.
As the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said, ‘Learning a musical instrument has wide-reaching benefits: it improves concentration, academic attainment, contributes to higher self-esteem and, most importantly, raises children’s expectations of what they can achieve in all areas of their lives. I am delighted to be the Patron of the London Music Fund.’
