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No Grass Without Roots

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It’s time to stand up for grassroots youth and community music.

English Teacher’s recent Mercury Prize success, and Ezra Collective’s the year before, were a win for grassroots music. They were a win for diversity. And a win for young musicians.

English Teacher was the first Mercury Prize winner from outside of London for 10 years (yes, that’s 10 years). They were quick to thank Music:Leeds in their acceptance speech, a Youth Music funded partner who supported them to record and distribute their music before they were signed.

Last year, Ezra Collective made history by being the first jazz act to win a Mercury. Band Leader Femi Koleoso told the audience, “Ezra Collective represents something really special because we met in a youth club … this moment that we’re celebrating right here is testimony to good, special people putting time and effort into young people to play music … “.

Given these two historic wins, you might think that grassroots music projects are thriving right now. That the ‘good, special people’ who spend their days helping young people to play music are finally reaping the rewards.

However, whilst Music:Leeds and Tomorrow’s Warriors are rightly receiving accolades for these successes, below the surface you’ll find a sector in crisis.

One quarter of youth spaces facing closure

Earlier this year we conducted a survey with the grassroots music projects in our network. We found that:

  • A quarter of youth music spaces are considering closure.
  • Over two-thirds reported being focused on short-term survival.

75% were concerned about the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on the young people they work with. 68% are having less success with funding applications; and 59% have seen a drop in income – at the same time as two-thirds report rising costs from utilities, rent, wages, supplies and equipment. 

As one respondent told us,

“There has never been a greater need for our services and support at a time where we are unable to operate as we would like to, owing to restraints due to premises, access to necessary resources and funding to meet and increase capacity”.

What do we mean by ‘grassroots music projects’?

Grassroots music projects are a vital part of the music education and music industries ecosystem. Usually small in size, these organisations are usually not for profits, funded mostly through trusts and foundations. This includes Youth Music’s annual investment of over £10 million.

A defining feature of these projects is that they usually take place outside school, in local communities, and are run by local people. The term ‘grassroots’ means “involving the ordinary people in a society or organisation”. Included in those ‘ordinary’ people will be the likes of English Teacher, Ezra Collective, and others who will ‘make it’ in the music industries.

For every success story, there are literally thousands of other children and young people regularly making music. Youth Music funding alone supported over 120,000 children and young people in 2022/23. But when it comes to national debates on music strategy and music funding, young people are all too often unseen and unheard.

Behind the glitz and glamour of the Mercury Prize, grassroots music projects are dealing with increasingly complex issues facing young people. The cost of living crisis, arriving on top of the pandemic, has led to a perfect storm.

We asked projects whether they’d seen increases in issues facing young people in the last three years.

Nearly all reported increases in depression and anxiety. But worse, 75% said that have seen an increase in the number of children and young people experiencing a mental health crisis. In order words, three quarters have seen increases in severe mental health cases. On top of this:

  • 77% have seen a rise in behavioural issues.
  • 76% have seen increases in children experiencing low self-esteem; 49% in self-harm, and 33% in eating disorders.
  • 69% have seen increased poverty, and 47% increased hunger.
  • 27% have seen an increase in criminal exploitation and / or county lines.

These statistics are shocking.

“There is vast pressure on young people and the services that can support and protect them.  We think that the youth work infrastructure in our area is severely depleted, leaving young people disconnected and unsupported.  The issues above are not single issues they are all connected.  A young person facing poverty will then be under greater mental health pressure and more susceptible to being exploited.  The landscape has become much more complicated just as the support services have disappeared.”

“[My] team work with young people facing really tough times. We lost one of our young people three months ago, in a truly horrible way. At the same time, we had an online campaign against us for supporting a particularly difficult young person. This young person then attempted suicide. Thankfully [my organisation] were there in time, to stop him going through with it. These are just a couple of examples of the challenges that my team and I are facing more and more.”

Despite this crucial work of grassroots music projects, arts and cultural activities continue to be undervalued.

“One funder told us that in the current climate our work is only a "nice to have" and not essential. We work with disabled young people who would otherwise not be able to access music and are dependant on funded services to socialise and live a rich and normal life so it is very frustrating to feel like this is not valued.”

A hidden crisis?

We’ve heard lots in the last few years about the crisis facing classical music, the crisis facing opera, and even the crisis facing grassroots venues.

But what about the crisis facing grassroots youth and community music?

Last year, the crisis in opera and classical music narrative surfaced after Arts Council England dropped English National Opera from it’s National Portfolio, and the BBC announced it was to axe BBC Singers and cut costs in its orchestras. A parliamentary debate was called, and commentary was rife across media. BBC singers earned a reprieve, and English National Opera were awarded £17 million from Arts Council in a three-year settlement.

Good news for classical and opera. But what will it take for people to recognise that we should be treating the crisis in young people’s grassroots music with the same levels of urgency as we do other areas of the music ecosystem?

In recent years we’ve heard a lot in the media about the plight of music venues. The Government responded by allocating an additional £4 million of investment into the ‘supporting grassroots music fund’, to help musicians perform and thrive at the grassroots of the music industry.

But we’re not seeing the same levels of additional investment into young people’s grassroots music.

Our National Lottery investment through Arts Council England has been the bedrock of our work since we were set up in 1999. But in real terms, this investment has fallen by 45% over this period.

In 2022/23, Youth Music received funding requests to the value of £59 million, and distributed around £10 million. This means a funding ‘gap’ of £49 million.

We know from our Sound of the Next Generation 2024 research that music is their favourite pastime, and that current provision does not meet demand. Like many of our partners, we’re concerned about what this means for children and young people’s futures.

“[I’m] Angry to be honest - if we don't support our young people now then who do they grow up to be? How will they cope with adulthood if the challenges of their youth aren't addressed...what does this say about our country valuing the future?”

The Mercury Prize wins of the last two years show how important this sector is to the diversity of the future music industries. So now, we’re calling for the Government to invest in a long-term music strategy for growth that recognises the vital work of the grassroots youth and community music.

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