New Outreach programme set to bring music and inspiration to over 1,000 school children

Chetham’s launches new Outreach programme, bringing music and inspiration to more than 1,000 primary school children across Greater Manchester. The project has been made possible thanks to the generous support of Huawei.

Every year, Chetham’s dedicated Outreach team inspire and engage over 10,000 participants both on and off-site, bringing the specialist expertise of the UK’s leading music school to a wide-ranging audience. The goal of Chetham’s OOutreach is to widen access to music and promote the positive impact of music on overall health and wellbeing.

Studies show that music listening and music making can have a profound effect on health and well-being with a report published by Youth Music in 2019 finding that 85% of young people aged between 7 to 17 in England felt that music made them ‘feel happy’.

The Outreach programme depends on financial support to deliver its vital work in communities, so the new partnership with Huawei is a major boost to Chetham’s long-running activity. Over the last year, the Outreach programme has engaged more than 70 schools and 10 community groups, including 40% of schools in areas with the highest rates of child poverty in Greater Manchester.

The new Huawei supported project will enable Chetham’s to build partnerships with 10 primary school across Greater Manchester, engaging more than 1,000 children and allowing those involved to access classical music in an exciting way using the theme of great inventions of past 50 years.

Tom Redmond, Artistic Director and Joint Principal of Chetham’s School of Music, said: “We’re so grateful to Huawei for supporting this project which will enable us to provide free access to music for schools, families, and communities across Greater Manchester. This is important, life changing work. Projects like this support our mission at Chetham’s, to share the magic of music and learning with as many people as possible.”

Victor Zhang, Huawei Vice President, said: “I’m delighted to be able to announce our support for Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester and the Royal College of Music in London. Music, like technology, is about inspiration, creativity and passion. It is more vital than even that young people are able to experience this and reach their potential.

“The pandemic has been especially challenging for children across the UK, and doubly so far those who have been left isolated and disconnected by a move to remote learning. Businesses like Huawei must embrace the opportunity to inspire talent, and we are fully committed to continuing to invest in young people all across the UK.”

Additionally, Chetham’s are delighted to be working with Huawei to host their annual Winter Concert on 14 December at The Stoller Hall, featuring performances from Chetham’s students of festive classics. The concert will use Huawei’s connectivity technology to enable a live concert link-up between Chetham’s musicians with performers at the Royal College of Music in London.

From next year, Huawei will also be supporting Chetham’s as a Corporate Member. Corporate Members at Chetham’s enjoy invitations to exclusive concert openings, behind the scenes tours of our buildings and collections, talks with leading musicians and entertaining opportunities in our incredible event spaces.

Please contact Hanaa Skalli, Director of Development on hanaaskalli@chethams.com to find out more.

Tags: outreach