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Trailblazer Fund

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a black and yellow banner advertising the youth music trailblazer fund

The Youth Music Trailblazer fund offers grants of £2,000 to £30,000 to organisations in England to run projects for children and young people (25 or under) to make, learn and earn in music. The project should trial work for the first time, test a new way of working, or disrupt the status quo (or all three!).

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.

Trailblazer Round 6
Deadline: 12 January 2024
Notification: 26 April 2024

For projects starting between: May and July 2024.  

Trailblazer Round 7
Deadline: 30 August 2024
Notification: 13 December 2024
For projects starting between: January and March 2025

Trailblazer Round 8
Deadline: 22 November 2024
Notification: 21 March 2025
For projects starting between: April and June 2025

All deadlines are 5pm.

Over the summer we paused the Trailblazer 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.

A Trailblazer project could be:

  • A new CIC testing out different ways of supporting nurseries to embed music-making into their day-to-day activities. 
  • A Music Education Hub that wants to disrupt the status quo of their local music scene by setting up a Youth Board that has budget & power to make decisions about how the hub is run.
  • An established youth centre trialling a programme of music activities for the first time.
girl singing into mic

Online Q&A

We're ran an online Q&A. You can watch the presentation back here

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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Introducing our new funds

We’re excited to officially launch our Trailblazer Fund and Catalyser Funds. These replace Funds A, B and C, supported through our National Lottery Arts Council investment.

Funding

Discover funding options available with Youth Music.