PRS Foundation has invested over £41 million since March 2000 and launched its Talent Development Partner network in 2016.
Venues, festivals, rehearsal spaces, studios and other organisations help over 5000 songwriters, composers, artists, bands, ensembles and producers every year. Partners receive a grant from the Foundation for the year and are chosen on the basis of the quality, range and impact of opportunities they offer to music creators in their specialist fields.
By becoming part of the network, the member organisations also benefit from cross-collaboration, helping to close gaps in the music development landscape and creating strategic partnerships. The range of activities has included composer and songwriter workshops, residencies, recording and release support and the commissioning of new music. Young artists such as Nubya Garcia, Lady Sanity, Black Country New Road and Jasdeep Singh Degun are among those to have benefitted.
With the Foundation’s emphasis on diversity, inclusion, equity and justice, it has funded initiatives such as Women Make Music, Keychange and POWER UP. The network members are also a vital data source for PRS For Music in understanding improving ways of improving diversity of management teams, governance and providers. Partners such as Drake Music and Audio Active have also helped highlight the industry’s duty of care and support for those entering or working within it.
The funding comes from PPL and PRS for Music and has helped Partners survive the last two difficult years, but the programme is now turning its focus on rebuilding and engaging new talent.
Joe Frankland, CEO of PRS Foundation, said, ‘The music industry has faced unprecedented challenges in the last few years and so the role of organisations across the UK working in talent development has never been more important.
‘The organisations revealed today as part of our network of Talent Development Partners have adapted to face these challenges on the front line of support in their specialist regions and genres for talented music creators from the grassroots up. We’re looking forward to working closely with each and every one of the organisations in the network to ensure the talent development pipeline continues to enable fantastic music creators to develop, regardless of location, background, gender or ethnicity.’
The full list of new PRS Foundation Talent Development Partners for 2022/23 is:
- AudioActive
- B:Music
- Baby People
- Brighter Sound
- Bristol Music Trust
- British Underground
- Britten Sinfonia
- Come Play With Me
- Cryptic
- Drake Music
- Drake Music Scotland
- English Folk Dance & Song Society
- FOCUS Wales
- Forté Project
- Future Bubblers
- Generator
- Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble
- Heart n Soul
- Higher Rhythm
- Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (hcmf//)
- Jazz re:freshed
- Liverpool City Council
- Manchester Jazz Festival
- Mercury Musical Developments
- Moving On Music
- Music:Leeds
- Nonclassical
- Oh Yeah Music Centre
- Opera North
- OTO Projects
- Oxford Contemporary Music
- Psappha
- PUNCH
- Red Note Ensemble
- Roundhouse Trust
- Saffron Records
- Sage Gateshead
- Serious Events Ltd
- Sneaky Pete’s
- Sound and Music
- Sound Festival
- Sound UK Arts
- South Asian Arts-uk
- The Music Works
- Tomorrow’s Warriors
- Tŷ Cerdd – Music Centre Wales
- UD Music Foundation
- Wide Days
