We’re kicking off the festive season with our traditional round up, so read on for team AW’s highlights. If you’ve supported our cause this year, a hundred times thank you! This has all happened because of you and we are super grateful for the difference you’ve helped us make…
- 16 talented up-and-coming musicians – the largest cohort yet – joined our Career Development Programme for more than 129 hours of coaching and strategy sessions plus masterclasses with industry experts. 100% of the artists said the programme helped them gain more knowledge, clear goals and a network to develop their career; plus they improved their confidence and wellbeing. We’ll be taking on more mentees in 2022, so subscribe to our artist mailing list if you want to be the first to hear when the new programme opens.
- We joined forces with Spitfire Audio who make inspiring sounds and scoring tools for film in collaboration with the world’s best composers, musicians and engineers. They’ve supported our music education and career development programmes with: a generous donation; free studio support and industry expert masterclasses for our musician mentees. They’ve also been developing an exciting new audio product with some of the mentees that will be launching in 2022!
- Artists including Oscar Jerome, Sans Soucis, Arji Manuelpillai, Plumm and Joe Downard recorded more than 600 hours’ worth of music tutorials and webinars for Future Sound Digital in 2021. This meant that even when schools were closed and as Covid-uncertainty continues, 11-18 year olds can keep building their confidence in music, songwriting and performing by watching this content on YouTube. Subscribe to our YouTube channel if you missed out!
- We updated our brand so that the people who really need our support recognise who we are, understand what we do and connect with us. It’s all about giving underrepresented young talent an equal chance to realise their creative potential. In August we rolled this out across all our communication channels, including developing our new website.
- The Autumn term saw the return of Future Sound… in real life! Jazz FM Breakthrough Act of the Year Jas Kayser, and her band, worked alongside 20 students from Mossbourne Community Academy in Hackney for in-school workshops, a day at Premises Studios and a performance at award-winning venue Church of Sound. They learned Jas’ music and wrote and performed new compositions together, plus had an insider’s glimpse into what it’s like to be a professional musician. Get an exclusive preview of the film of the project when it’s out in January 2022 by joining our mailing list!
- Earlier this month we were thrilled to receive an early Christmas present – one of only 50 exclusive vinyl copies of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s ‘Happy Xmas (War is Over)’ gifted for us to sell or auction to raise funds. Want to hear what happens next? Get all the latest updates by subscribing to our newsletter.
Wishing you restful and healthy holidays and see you in ‘22!