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The BRIT award-winning artist and founder of educational charity, Each One Teach One, pledges support for UK’s biggest ever youth music project. 

21 August 2014 – Awarding-winning artist and founder of educational charity, Each One Teach One, Plan B, has joined forces with the organisers behind The Big Music Project, to help young people across the UK find work and training opportunities in the music industry. 
 
A £4 million project funded by The Big Lottery Fund, The Big Music Project is a partnership between the UK’s biggest music and entertainment brands. Led by Capital FM, which reaches 7.3 million weekly listeners across the UK and the BPI which is responsible for the iconic BRITs brand, both are working alongside youth work charity UK Youth to help youngsters from every corner of the UK take a step closer to their dream career. 
 
The year long project will aim to reach more than 4.5 million young people, aged 14 to 24 across the UK, helping them to build confidence and develop transferable skills through training and career opportunities to improve their future prospects in the music industry and other employment.
 
Plan B will join The Big Music Project Live at the national events in Glasgow, London, Cardiff and Belfast later this year, taking part in live Q&As and hosting meet and greets with aspiring young people looking to develop their careers.
 
The BRIT Award-winning artist’s Each One Teach One charity based in East London, which aims to create opportunities for positive, long-term changes in the lives of young people, will also be part of The Big Music Project. 
 
Talking about his involvement in The Big Music Project, Plan B said,
 
“The Big Music Project is all about young people, their love of music and the opportunity to do something positive to change their lives for the better.  Across the whole of the UK there are people with skills and talent who don’t know where to go next – and it’s not easy figuring out how to take an idea you love and make it your reality, your business, and your career.  I believe that through The Big Music Project and Each One Teach One we can help young people take big steps towards a big future.”
 
Other artists who have pledged support for the initiative include Will Kennard from Chase & Status, chart-topping boyband Lawson, Foxes, Olly Murs, MNEK, and Capital’s Marvin Humes.
 
Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive of the BPI and The BRIT Awards, called on other industry supporters to come aboard,
 
“At BPI we want to give more young people the chance to understand how the music industry works and to try working in it themselves. The Big Music Project will help many young people discover new opportunities through music and at the same time unearth young leaders who will shape our business in the years ahead.  It already has the backing of the BRITs, Global’s Capital FM, the BPI major and independent labels and many artists, but we're inviting the whole industry to get involved – to consider offering internships, attend the events, be a judge in our competition, or to get even more artists talking to their fans about it. It’s a wonderful opportunity to engage young people around the country with a positive experience of our industry."

Emma Bradley, Director Global Charities and Communities said:

“As the lead partner on The Big Music Project, we are dedicated to helping young people build a future in the music industry. The Big Music Project will put young people in front of industry insiders, giving them the chance to showcase their skills, forge important relationships and hear first hand advice on getting their career off the ground. This is a fantastic project and one that the team at Global and our presenters at Capital are proud to be involved in.”

Peter Ainsworth, chair of the Big Lottery Fund, said:

“The Big Music Project is all about inspiring young people across the UK to fulfil their potential and improve their prospects. It is about giving them opportunities to gain transferable skills that will help them build careers, whether they choose to join the music industry or decide to try something else.  This project is just one of the initiatives The Big Lottery Fund is investing in to help give young people the tools they need to build a brighter future and play an active role in their communities.”

Tickets for the four national live events The Big Music Project Live in…Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow and London are available now and can be reserved for free, by visitingwww.thebigmusicproject.co.uk.

The Big Music Project will deliver a number of exciting opportunities for young people over the next twelve months:
 
• The Big Music Project Live in Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow and London in September and October will see thousands of young people get hands-on experience of music industry careers.  Each event will be packed with live music, big name speakers, first class advice from industry experts, information on work opportunities in the local area, and the chance to find out how this project can make a difference in the local community.

• The Big Music Project Competition - a BRIT Awards-supported music competitionpowered by Next BRIT Thing - to find and develop musical talent from across the UK.  The team will be scouring Belfast, Glasgow, Gateshead, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Leicester, Birmingham, Cardiff, Bristol, Portsmouth and London for the best of British talent.  Young finalists will come to The O2 in London for a UK-wide national final in the week of The BRIT Awards 2015.

• A new careers initiative “On Track” offering at least 250 work placements, ranging from short term volunteer opportunities to year-long paid internships across the country.

• The creation of a BRIT School Toolkit for UK Youth Champions to help develop music initiatives in their own communities. The material has been developed from BRIT School content, fully accredited and branded accordingly. In total some 11,000 young people will benefit directly through this part of the programme.

More details about The Big Music Project can be found at www.thebigmusicproject.co.uk

For further information on The Big Music Project please contact:
 
Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 
020 7211 1888
Out of hours media contact: 
07867 500 572 

Lynne McDowell
Lynne.McDowell@bpi.co.uk
07763 619709

Sophie Randles
Sophie.randles@capitalfm.com
020 7054 8388
 
Strands of The Big Music Project 
 
1.       A major media campaign driven by Capital to reach in excess of 4,500,000 young people through radio, social media and online activity. This will promote participation in the rest of the project. 
2.       The Big Music Project Live (powered by Music Matters).  Four national music careers events will promote opportunities to engage with the music industry sign up to our music competition and explore our work opportunities programme. 
3.       The Big Music Project Competition (powered by The Next Brit Thing), which develops talent, introduces young people to the inner workings of the music industry and signposts local music-related development opportunities. 
4.       A work opportunities programme called ‘On Track’ offering in excess of 250 placements, ranging from the short term to year-long paid internships across the music industry and beyond. 
5.       A grassroots training and development programme delivered through 100 youth clubs reaching in the region of 25,000 young people. We will recruit 1,000 project champions to learn about community cohesion, citizenship and employability, with music as the unifying theme. These champions will go on to peer educate a further 10,000 young people. 
6.       A major campaign website integrating existing social media platforms, providing downloadable resources and upload functionality for young people to showcase their creative skills.

Big Lottery Fund
The Big Lottery Fund is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.  The Fund is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since its inception in 2004 BIG has awarded close to £6bn.  The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006. 
 
Project Partners

About Global:

Global’s radio stations include the three biggest commercial radio networks – Capital, Heart and Classic FM – as well as Capital XTRA, LBC, Smooth, Xfm and Gold. Alongside its radio business, Global runs two 24-hour television services, Capital TV and Heart TV, a fast-growing talent business with a roster of international recording artists and a highly successful music publishing business. Global designs, builds and operates market-leading websites for each of its radio brands and develops its own direct-to-consumer digital audio and video products, services and apps in-house. Global is led by Founder and Executive President, Ashley Tabor, Group CEO, Stephen Miron and Director of Broadcasting, Richard Park. It is chaired by Lord Allen of Kensington.
 
About The BPI:
The BPI is the representative voice of the UK recorded music business. It is a trade organisation funded by its members.  The BPI also organises the annual BRIT Awards show and The Classic BRITs.
 
About UK Youth:
UK Youth is a national charity at the heart of a network of organisations that support young people to learn, grown and succeed. It develops and promotes learning opportunities beyond mainstream school and through regional youth associations and local groups reaches 690,000 young people each year. 
 
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