Nurturing musical talent of the future

As a charitable funder supporting the creation and performance of new music, PRS Foundation prides itself on attracting applications from exciting music creators. Our long-term, collaborative approach has helped to transform the careers of hundreds of songwriters, composers and artists. Five of the last six Mercury Prize winners have received PRS Foundation support at crucial career moments, including 2023 winners Ezra Collective.

We think the deserved recognition for creator grantees – such as Ezra Collective – is down to a combination of their undoubted talent, direct grant support at critical moments, and the vital support creators access from specialist non-profit organisations along their career journey. 

When accepting the prize, bandleader and drummer Femi Koleoso acknowledged organisations including Tomorrow’s Warriors and Audio Active – two organisations we are proud to support through our network of Talent Development Partners.

Extremely high demand for support

These organisations – and hundreds of others across the UK – work tirelessly to unearth talent, provide development opportunities and address pipeline gaps. And with the music creator community facing a backdrop of rising costs, venue closures, oversaturation of digital platforms, Brexit-related barriers, post-pandemic challenges, financial uncertainty and social inequity, their efforts are more vital than ever. 

As specialists in their fields, non-profit organisations punch above their weight and fully deserve more support from the public and private sectors. This has been particularly evident in the last few years where the survival of these organisations has been under threat. 

During tough times for the music sector, increased support was available from funders and trade associations. But with extremely high demand – last year PRS Foundation received almost 3,600 applications and we were able to pledge over £3.1m to support 435 new music projects – the competitive nature of funding has been thrust into the limelight. 

Organisations have had to adapt to keep up with major changes within the larger public funding sector. And national arts councils are having to make increasingly difficult decisions which benefit many but have a negative impact for some. 

Responsible and flexible approach

While funders are here to enable outstanding work, the competition for grants means those looking for support are becoming weary of the churn of deadlines, applying and reporting. And on all sides, we’re spending more time and resource on funding administration. 

Like many Arts Trusts and Foundations, we think our responsive and flexible approach to funding during the pandemic had a huge impact. Key takeaways include triggering more honest and open conversations within the sector and building a greater understanding of the need to offer more distinct funding approaches.

It has been increasingly clear, however that we need to evolve our approach to address talent pipeline gaps in smarter ways. Without a more distinct and strategic approach, too many music creators will continue to fall at the first hurdle.

We want an approach to funding which fosters collaboration between organisations whose missions and values align. And of course, we want to continue to support organisations going deeper to nurture talent so that promising creators from all backgrounds can fulfil their potential and sustain careers. 

PRS Foundation’s Talent Development Network approach 

Our recently announced Talent Development Network programme consolidates PRS Foundation’s Open Fund and Talent Development Partner initiatives into one holistic, multi-year funding scheme, offering grants of up to £25,000 per year for up to 3 years. 

Combining the benefits of being in a collective of specialist organisations with an accessible open call means that crucial funding is available for organisations to deliver their programmes while accessing the expertise and knowledge of those working in all genres, at all career levels and across the UK.

While our focus as a funder is still on transformative project and programme funding as opposed to organisational development, with the option of multi-year funding, chosen organisations will have more stability and continuity. Applicants can submit longer-term plans and can focus more on talent development.

We expect to support over 70 organisations in the first three-year phase of the initiative with thanks to our core donation from PRS for Music (the collection society for songwriters, composers and publishers), support from PPL (the collection society for performers and record labels). 

Selected organisations will be leaders in their region, nation, genre or other specialist fields. We’re looking to support established and new organisations, and the Network will bring together those that might not normally work together to share best practice, signpost music creators to each other. 

Connecting the dots in smarter ways

The Ezra Collective example is just one of hundreds of examples of music creators moving from accessing early career development into other programmes while building fanbases and attracting industry investment. Others including Anna Meredith, Little Simz and Gavin Higgins benefited from accessing support from various organisations we fund, and through this new Network approach, we look forward to connecting dots in smarter ways.

I’m excited about the potential to further develop the network in future years. With support from others in the sector, I see a lot of potential to grow the Network and to create a hub for music creators to access opportunities and career development pathways while making it easier to unearth and support exciting talent.

Arts Trusts and Foundations have proven that our work complements the hugely important work of larger public funders including national arts councils. But it is important we do more than just top up budgets. We have the ability to be more agile, and to support new and established organisations to deliver work which is more defined, distinct and transformational. 

We hope with this new approach, selected organisations can mirror our efforts to prioritise music creator development which benefits the whole ecosystem.

Joe Frankland is CEO of PRS Foundation.
 prsfoundation.com  
@PRSFoundation | @Joe_Frankland

PRS Foundation’s Talent Development Network programme is open for applications until 26 February. Organisations interested in applying can find out more and register for a series of application workshops.

This article is sponsored and contributed by PRS Foundation.