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Catalyser Fund

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catalyser fund

The Youth Music Catalyser Fund offers grants between £30,001 and £300,000 to organisations in England who want to sustain work, scale-up delivery, or create change in sector practice. Catalyser programmes must support children and young people who face barriers to make, learn or earn in music, and aim to make music activity more inclusive so everyone can access it. 

Your work must meet one of our themes: 

  • Early years
  • Disabled, d/Deaf and neurodivergent young people
  • Youth justice system
  • Young people facing barriers
  • Young adults
  • Organisations and the workforce.

Catalyser Fund Round 4
Expression of Interest Deadline: 10 May 2024
Notification: 28 June 2024
Full Application Deadline: 09 August 2024 
Notification: 08 November 2024
For programmes starting between: December 2024 and February 2025 

All deadlines are 5pm. Apply here via our Grants Portal

 

Want to talk to us about your Expression of Interest? Book a Zoom call with one of the team.

Update: These slots have now all filled up, but you can still email us at grants@youthmusic.org.uk if there's anything you'd like to discuss before the deadline. 

Last year we paused the Catalyser Fund to make some small but important improvements.

We have updated our eligibility and budget guidance and engaged a wider range of external advisors (including young people) to inform funding decisions. All changes are highlighted in the refreshed guidance.

Want to talk to Youth Music about your Expression of Interest?

If you currently have a grant with Youth Music or a grant that has finished recently, then please contact your Grants & Learning Officer directly to discuss submitting an expression of interest.    

If you are new to Youth Music, you can book a 15- minute zoom call with a member of the Grants and Learning team. Click here to book a slot through Calendly

If you have more technical questions about the application process – for example how to access the grants portal or fill in the online form, then you can contact grants@youthmusic.org.uk or call 020 7902 1060. You are always welcome to email us if that’s how you prefer to communicate.

A Catalyser programme will be sustaining work, scaling up-work or creating change in sector practice (or all three!). A Catalyser programme could be:

  • An experienced youth charity sustaining its successful youth-led music provision over four years. 
  • A CIC who, following the successful delivery of a pilot project, wants to scale-up their programme to reach more young people and work across a wider geographic area.
  • An established music charity wanting to develop an Early Years network. They will up-skill practitioners, and influence sector practice so that more people are delivering child-centred music practice.

Resources

Access fund: support for Disabled applicants

If you identify as Disabled and need further support to make an application to Youth Music, you can apply to our Access Fund. This provides funding to cover any additional access costs that might be required for you to make an application to one of Youth Music’s funds.

Safeguarding hub

Find out what safeguarding means and what Youth Music expects from funded partners.

IDEA hub

We believe that music should be Inclusive, Diverse, Equitable, and Accessible. We call these principles 'IDEA' for short. Want to improve inclusion, diversity, equity and access in your organisation? Check out our self assessment survey to help you think through what you’re doing well, and what could be improved. We've also compiled additional resources to inspire and shape your IDEA journey.

Youth Voice hub

Find out what Youth Voice is, why it's important, and resources on how to do it.

Finance and budget hub

We have created this page to support you with your project budgets. You will also find information to support you with some of the financial information you are required to provide at the application stage.

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