Building a Music Apprenticeship: join the campaign
We’re at the start of a journey - building a real employment pathway into music.
Over the past few months we’ve been asking a simple question: what does a modern musician need to build a sustainable, full-time career in today’s world?
We’ve been talking with our staff team, alumni, partners and colleagues across the sector - listening, comparing notes, and trying to understand what’s missing.
For us as an organisation, this is about job opportunities and a real succession plan.
For the young people we work with, it’s about a visible pathway into industry.
And for the music industry, it’s about a pipeline of skilled workers from every background.
You might have seen our campaign raised in Parliament recently by our local MP, Bayo Alaba. On our behalf, he asked what is being done around youth employment - particularly in music (worth around £8bn to the UK economy) and the wider creative industries.
The response highlighted something we already know: music often gets overlooked in youth employment conversations - and that has consequences.
What’s broken right now
We see systemic issues that make meaningful employment in music harder than it needs to be:
A broken pipeline: young people leave Further Education with no clear understanding of where the opportunities are — and many end up in work completely disconnected from their training.
Insecure work: a large proportion of music workers are freelance, often without holiday pay, sick pay, pensions or other employment protections.
Fragility in a crisis: COVID showed how quickly full-time music work can disappear.
Short-term project cycles: in the not-for-profit world (where we operate), funding is often short-term — which makes it difficult to plan, grow teams, or build sustainable roles.
All of this adds up to the same problem: young people can’t see a stable route in - and organisations struggle to build long-term jobs.
Why apprenticeships?
Put simply: apprenticeships are connected to real work, real training, and what employers actually need on the ground. They create paid, structured employment - not just short-term gigs and patchwork freelance work.
And if we build this properly, apprenticeships can help us understand (and remove) the barriers that stop music employers from creating more full-time roles.
What’s different about music?
Music is a job - but it’s also a creative practice. Most working musicians will always have at least one creative project alongside the day job. Young people need space for that too: to develop their own artistry, voice and creative outlet - and that creative growth often benefits the organisation they work for.
That’s why we’re campaigning for an apprenticeship model that supports meaningful employment and creative practice, side by side.
Help shape what this could look like
If you’re an organisation that works with young people, and/or you have roles that require musicians, we’d love to speak with you. We’re looking for people who can help us shape what a Music Apprenticeship should actually include - based on real jobs and real needs.
Get in touch below to set up a call with our Director, Louisa Strachan, and become part of the campaign.