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We’re Youth Music. We’re a national charity investing in music-making projects that help children and young people aged 0-25 to develop personally and socially as well as musically.

We work particularly with those who don’t get to make music because of who they are, where they live, or what they’re going through.

We believe in practical, creative music-making of every possible genre, style and technique. Everyone has the ability to make music. They just need support and guidance to discover what works best for them.

We support children and young people to build their confidence, resilience, and self-esteem. To meet different kinds of people, learn to trust each other, and make friends. To develop vital skills they need, get support to be able to face the world, and take control of their own lives.

Projects funded by Youth Music help to break down barriers at all stages – helping children develop an early love of music, providing diverse role models, introducing young people to a wide variety of potential career paths, and working with the music industry to make its practices more inclusive.

Youth Music is 20

Youth Music is 20 years old! We'll be looking back - and looking forward - throughout 2019. To kick us off, our CEO Matt Griffiths reflects on the past two decades of life-changing music making.

20 years of life-changing music-making

A timeline of major milestones in Youth Music's history, from 1999 to the present day.

Ben’s story

From a young age, Ben’s loved making music. He’s also had to face the challenge of being labelled as a young person with autism and mental health issues.

Shallise’s story

Shallise is a 22-year-old singer and songwriter from south London. Making music helped her cope after the loss of her dad.

Meet #TeamYouthMusic for The Vitality Big Half

Five incredible people are taking on the Vitality Big half marathon to support Youth Music. Read what motivates them and why they are taking on the challenge.

Young people playing music in a classroom — From the music-making programme run by NYMAZ in North Yorkshire.

Let's unite and focus on young people's lives in music

There’s no doubt that inclusive approaches to music-making are on the increase, says Youth Music CEO Matt Griffiths. But the music education sector is still sometimes prone to disagreements about the ‘right way’ to do things. It’s time for us to work together.