Bringing Harmony to children's lives : How Concerteenies is bringing young children together to explore their musical dreams

As a recipient of multiple awards, the charity Concerteenies is renowned for creating musical experiences tailored to young children and their guardians - with a focus on participation and engagement, Concerteenies events are the perfect way to introduce children to the joy and wonder of live music in a safe, diverse and supportive environment bringing generations together!

Therefore we're delighted to offer a grant to support the wonderful work that they do. 

Polly Ives, a music educator, founded the organisation in 2017 after realising that there might be fewer opportunities for young children between the ages of 0 and 7 to personally experience live music. After becoming a parent for the first time, she personally experienced the challenges of trying to enjoy music while also taking care of a newborn. Luckily, Concerteenies can offer a way for parents to overcome these obstacles and enjoy music together with their little ones.

The impact of Concerteenies has been significant. Not only have they provided young children with a valuable experience, but they have also created a sense of community for families in Sheffield. Parents and caregivers have the opportunity to connect with each other and share in the joy of watching their children experience live music.

This grant will directly go to their musical stories events bringing to life popular illustrated books! These events are a blast for kids, as they get to be the stars of the show and fully immerse themselves. This Grant also aids in supporting the creation of new accessible resources that link to a variety of creative activities to ignite imagination and confidence in independent creativity! 

If you live in Sheffield and have young children, be sure to check out Concerteenies via this link

Music Without Limits: How Charity Under the Stars is Creating Inclusive Opportunities for People with Disabilities

Charity Under the Stars is a Sheffield-based organisation that's making a real difference in our community by empowering people with disabilities through the power of music. Their mission is all about creating a safe and welcoming environment that nurtures individuals' talents, confidence, and skills, allowing them to explore their full potential. They've provided a shining example of the benefits that groups can experience when they prioritise inclusivity, empathy, and recognising the individual strengths of each person. Therefore we're proud to support their efforts in using music to change lives, and we're thrilled to offer them a grant to help make it happen!

So it only comes with great pleasure to announce our support of The Charity Under the Stars in their exciting album launch event, 'Sheffield Does Sheffield,' at the renowned Leadmill venue. With our grant, we're excited to help them create a truly magical and unforgettable experience for all attendees, where the power of music can be felt by everyone in the room. Together, we're enhancing lives and are beyond thrilled to support such a fantastic organisation!

Hype Dance

Hype Dance work with anyone who wants to dance The grant was given to run dance & dementia outreach sessions with groups around Sheffield where music is a central part of those sessions. Music can evoke powerful memories and take the participants back to a past era for a short time. Throughout our lives, we listen to, take part in, and dance to music and sound. For people with dementia – even those who have lost their ability to communicate or are at the end of their life – music can be a powerful way to trigger positive feelings and connect with other people.

Listening to or engaging in music – for example, by singing, dancing or playing instruments – can help people with dementia develop and maintain relationships with others and improve their wellbeing .It can: - help them to express their feelings and ideas, verbally and non-verbally. act as a prompt for reminiscing - help them to ‘tell their story’ and share their personal history - encourage physical exercise, dance or movement -encourage social interaction, reduce isolation, and help to engage people in group activities

Music can also help a person with dementia to connect with the past by evoking memories, feelings and emotions that they might otherwise find hard to express. For example, they may find it easier to recall memories when they hear pieces of music that are significant to them – perhaps their favourite song from the past, or a lullaby they used to sing to their children. we cannot wait to hear how this goes.

Mondo Radio

Mondo radio is a volunteer lead, independent community radio station based in Sheffield. The aim of the team is to connect communities with music and nurture growth within those communities. They run DJ workshops for underrepresented groups within the music scene, free of charge.

In 2022 we were able to support to Mondo Radio through our grant programme.

This grant was spent on organising and providing equipment for a series of female only DJ workshops, creating a comfortable space for guests, refreshments, transport costs and more. Everyone from the guests to the tutors, to the Radio station will benefit from these lessons for a variety of reasons, the main one being the instilled knowledge and confidence that these workshops can provide.

We felt that the ethos of this group resonated with our own and we were happy to support this project.

What a difference a men’s music group makes

We are proud to announce one of our latest grant recipients - The Snowdrop Project.

The Sarah Nulty Power of Music Foundation has provided funding to support The Snowdrop Project in starting a music group to support their clients.

Snowdrop works with people who have been trafficked, moved from one place to another for the purpose of exploiting them.

Men are notoriously more reluctant than women to ask for help, are less likely to see themselves as being exploited and often disappear from services all together. However, they remain isolated, sometimes homeless and destitute, often struggling with their health and finances, and frequently lacking in meaningful activity. All this can add strain to pre-existing mental health struggles and is detrimental to wellbeing.

Snowdrop has found that inviting men to community-based activities such as a music group can provide a reason to get out, a sense of purpose and much needed connection with others. Community activities can also become a pathway into more in depth support, such as casework or therapy.

Currently Snowdrop has a couple of men who are very competent guitar players and are supported by their amazing teacher Nick. The grant from the Sarah Nulty Power of Music Foundation is being spent to complement donations of instruments and time and skills, filling gaps and promoting sustainability. It has meant Snowdrop has been able to buy decent equipment that conveys a sense of dignity, respect and valuing of the players.

In the future they would also like to provide music lessons to develop skills, bridge the cultural gaps and develop a sense of group activity.

Even with a support worker accompanying them, getting to the music group at all is a remarkable achievement given the distrust, anxiety and chronic pain people can suffer. The group is a safe place and the men eventually come under their own steam.

“The teacher is awesome – musically amazing but also very compassionate with the guys and patient with their sometimes erratic behaviour that echoes their previous trauma. Music is a fabulous way of managing your emotions, of connecting with others despite language barriers and for witnessing the healing power of playing together. It’s wonderful to hear the guys utterly absorbed in learning and playing, appreciating each other’s skills yes, but also cherishing each other’s company, their willingness to share and opportunities to be utterly in the flow, doing what matters despite the pain. This is a priceless affirmation of the importance of being able to provide such a space, assisted so generously by the Power of Music’s grant. Thank you.”

- David Bell, Male Project Development

To find out more about the Snowdrop Project and how you can get involved visit their website here.

Could you benefit from a grant from the Sarah Nulty Power of Music Foundation? Visit our Grants page to find out more and apply.

Making a difference through Music - Sheffield Music School

We are excited to announce our latest grant recipient, Sheffield Music School.

Sheffield Music School is a charity that runs on a Saturday morning and in school holidays. They have a number of classes that cater for various genres including jazz, classical, pop, rock and rap. They are dedicated to providing free provisions for those who have a passion for music and would otherwise be unable to attend. 

The grant will go directly to a number of girls passionate about making music. From song writing, singing lessons to production the grant is an exciting opportunity to increase one to one time with the students. They have already seen their mentees go from having small lyrical ideas to featuring on fully produced songs. Without support from organisations like the Sarah Nulty Power of Music Foundation they would not be able to help the students who would otherwise not be able to engage in music tuition. 

 “Being able to work with our young women to help excel their musical talents is so exciting. From watching their singing lessons with Gina Walters to working on production and creating beats, the classes are so creative and important. Without funds like this, many young people are left behind in an expensive and elitist industry which requires huge amounts of money to access one to one training. Our mentors and mentees are telling honest stories through their music and we are so excited for what the future brings.”

Lucy Revis, Before Breakfast/Director Sheffield Music School/Tracks Project

Sheffield Music School tries to engage with the community and its local musicians from working with the Ensemble 360 to bands like Reverend and the Makers, Before Breakfast, Oh Papa. They have also worked with Franz Von and Tenn who lead their rap and production sessions. They are dedicated to being an inclusive organisation and look forward to working with our mentees over the next year.