For a while now we have been looking to partner with other music organisations, but have never quite found the right fit… until we met JT that is. JT is on the board of ‘The Music On The RISE `Foundation’ (MOTR). Music On The Rise was set up in Brooklyn 2020 with the core aim of providing music education resources and guidance to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds within the New York metropolitan area. Since then, they have gone on to produce some amazing programmes involving children and young adults that ordinarily may not get the chance to experience music. When Abby first saw their Insta, she felt a real sense of synergy in what they are doing and what we aim to achieve here at Harmony: “ I am always looking for people and organisations that we can work with so that we can offer a more diverse range of opportunities as a music school. I think we are great at what we d,o but there is so much more that we can offer across music, which is why it is really important to get others on board. I got in touch with JT on messenger first and, from the first time we Zoomed, I knew we could really work together. MOTR work differently to us; much of what they do is funded through external sources with some serious time and effort put into fundraising. At Harmony, we try to fund projects ourselves, but this can be limiting in the number of people we can reach. The belief we both share is that music should not be a privilege – every child should have access to music and the opportunity to develop a musical skill. Unfortunately, music education has been on the decline in both Sheffield and Brooklyn, but if we work together, we know that we can reach more young people every year. There is so much we can learn from JT and his team and we are excited to get started”.
Together we want to make a difference
This is the exciting bit – we are joining forces to provide more music opportunities to our local communities. By using each other’s skills, we are working to provide funded opportunities to those who wouldn’t ordinarily have access to music education or support. And, the great news for us is that MOTR have a history of partnerships working…
Ben Wild – Executive Director at Walkabout Education said,
“The MOTR team are providing a once-in-lifetime experience for our students in The Bronx, revealing their talents and passions in ways that no other music program could. Our students create music with the same studio engineers that work with Grammy award winning artists.
The MOTR team are more than studio engineers and musicians, they are seasoned educators who understand the power of experiential learning and its ability to reinvigorate academic learning. Harmony Music School’s dedication to music education and correcting the inequality that exists in music education is directly in line with the values here at Music on the Rise.
As we move forward, we look to bring our expertise across the pond and help develop a long standing relationship that will benefit each organization’s participants and enrich the musical experience for those in our community.
Our partnership with MOTR makes our school and our students stronger.”
How the partnership will start
Dean Andrews lends his support to Harmony Music School once again. You all know that we love our Patron, Dean Andrews, and he was over the moon that we wanted to work with him on an international project. We are going to fund a yearlong scholarship programme to one of MOTR students – They will have access to Guitar, Singing, Keyboard and Drum online lessons with 26 free lessons over the year. Dean said,
“Being ask to be part of another project is great. It’s been a hard year for kids to access any kind of music education, so independent organisations stepping in to fill the void is a huge help to both schools and parents. Trying to get on in the music industry is hard work, and if you have little or no access to music education a career must look like a pipe dream to many. Harmony expanding to work with MOTR will bring such a diverse range of music opportunities and I’m looking forward to seeing how the relationship grows”
MOTR open up industry opportunities
MOTR have access to the amazing Key+Needle Studios and, with so many talented artists, engineers and producers, the opportunities that they can bring to Harmony Music School will be beneficial to our students. Over the coming months they will provide an online funded music production course to those in disadvantage areas of Sheffield and then, later in the year, they will also be launching a special package to all Harmony Music School students looking to get experience from industry professions. JT said,
“We here at Music On The Rise (MOTR) are honoured to be in the position to provide this special opportunity to the students of Harmony Music School and help develop the next generation of artists, producers, creators and musicians. We believe that part of correcting the inequity that exists in the arts is to create a large and diverse network. Having our producers and industry professionals be able to facilitate a program that provides guidance and know-how is indispensable. We thank Harmony Music School for being a partner in these and future collaborations”
Understandably, we are all very excited to be joining forces. Not only will MOTR be able to help children in Sheffield, Harmony Music School will be helping children from the Bronx, and the student industry package will actually help to fund MOTR’s ongoing work with children in the Bronx. We all feel that these projects are only the start…..
Details of how everyone can get involved with these projects will be coming soon…
