In an unprecedented time of economic pressures, many young people are having to prioritise basic needs over upskilling and career aspirations. 

New research from Youth Music reveals that 71% of its stakeholders said the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on young people and children was amongst their top three concerns. 

Creative industries are also under mounting pressure from economic turbulence. Recognising these profound challenges, Youth Music’s NextGen Fund has invested £245k in just one year to help young emerging creatives launch their own projects and gain important skills for prosperous music industry careers. 

This comes as calls intensify for real-life and diversified skill sets to be recognised as a potential solution to the needs of the UK economy. This is evidenced by employers increasingly looking for young talent that can bring an array of real-life skills to a role. 

Charity Stow

Nottingham-based singer-songwriter Charity is one of the 103 young creatives that Youth Music’s NextGen Fund has supported with skills diversification and career prospects. 

Charity is using the funding to release and market her new single and music video. She has seized the opportunity to work at the Youth Music Awards creating content for TikTok, is learning how to record her own demos and is taking guitar lessons to improve her production capability; the types of technical skills that will help to boost Charity’s career opportunities.

Without Youth Music, Charity wouldn’t have been able to access the diverse skills she needed to survive as an independent musician. She says: “As a musician, I think it’s really good to be able to do it all yourself if you need to. I am making sure I am doing everything [including] budgeting and keeping all the receipts. It’s definitely a learning curve but it’s more satisfying.” 

Georgina Spray

Georgina, an accomplished musician from Lincolnshire, successfully applied to become a co-researcher with Youth Music for its Reshape Music report. 

Thanks to the cross-industry skills she learnt, Georgina has been able to participate in game-changing projects that raise awareness about the barriers for young people trying to break into the music industries, her latest being a Youth Music funded project. Georgina says: “Through Youth Music’s Lincolnshire Music Service project, we’re going to dedicated schools for those with learning disabilities and helping them develop their music curriculums – I’m really enjoying it!.” 

Podge

Multi-instrumentalist musician, vocalist, rapper, songwriter and producer Podge, received funding from the second round of NextGen. This has enabled him to focus his efforts on releasing an EP/Mixtape, navigating this process with the skills he’s learnt through Youth Music including music, VFK, graphic design, 3D art, video editing, sound design, and live performance. 

Odox

With NextGen funding, Odox has released his first single and EP. Odox’s first release blew up on TikTok. He attributes this to what he’s learnt through Youth Music as it exposed him to opportunities including a workshop with TikTok. He says: “Youth Music’s NextGen Fund  helped me in so many ways. The grant allowed me to invest in all of my release’s promotion and production, and create music videos for each. My first single has been used in over 50,000 TikTok videos and viewed more than nine million times.” 

Championing music-making opportunities

As well as using its scale to help influence nationwide change, Youth Music is calling on the wider music industry to collectively catalyse a powerful movement to improve children and young people’s access to the full making, learning and earning lifecycle of music. 

Matt Griffiths, CEO of Youth Music says:

“We’re delighted that Youth Music’s NextGen Fund has been able to nurture many talented young creatives and help turn their ideas and ambitions into reality. 

“We are dedicated to be equipping talented young creatives with the confidence, and practical and technical skills they need to sustain prosperous careers in the music industry. This generation possess pioneering ideas that will help transform the music industries for the better. But without support, many do not have the financial means to access the industry and gain the skills they need to ensure sustained careers.” 

Applications for Round 4 of Youth Music’s NextGen fund are currently open, with a deadline of 5pm on Friday 7th October. The Youth Music NextGen Fund has been made possible thanks to principal partners TikTok and players of People’s Postcode Lottery, and support from Turtle Bay. 

For more information about Youth Music’s NextGen Fund, including how to apply, please visit: https://youthmusic.org.uk/nextgen/nextgen-fund