Our members 3,400 members, one voice
strain to make themselves heard by the powers that be,
32 information and advice events, covering 16 topics
wish it was easier to connect with other amateur groups,
97% of members insured
shop around for ages to find affordable insurance,
400 new pieces commissioned by members
wonder how to challenge themselves artistically,
1.5 million total annual audiences
fret about how to attract a wide audience to their events,
ÂŁ18.8 million spent on 34,000 music professionals
struggle to express their contribution to the professional music sector, and then
get on with making music. Annual Report 2017 A year of crossing stuff off the to-do list Fighting for the best deals and providing the expertise, networks and support that our members need to set up, run and thrive as leisure-time music groups.
Member group London Oriana Choir perform at the Cutty Sark Š Kathleen Holman
Annual Report 2017
Our vision Everyone has opportunities within reach to make and present their kind of music with others. Our mission Making Music is a membership organisation which supports, stands up for and celebrates groups of people making and presenting music together in their leisure time across the UK.
Message from the Chief Executive
5
Services 6 Advocacy and campaigns Projects and awards
8 10
Membership 12 Financial summary
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Staff and Board 2017
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I am delighted to introduce Making Music’s Annual report for 2017. The organisation continues to strengthen its support to leisure-time music organisations which encourage and promote community involvement across the country. It’s encouraging to see our membership continue to grow and widen. We are determined to expand the range of music-making reflected in Making Music’s membership to embrace a wider range of non-classical and culturally diverse musical forms, and to support the transition for young musicians from their school years through into leisure-time music making. We are growing our advocacy with policymakers and service providers to deepen their engagement with the sector and to protect vital services at local levels — for example music libraries. We thank our staff, our volunteers, and everyone associated with Making Music for all their imagination and commitment to the organisation. Dorothy Wilson MBE FRSA Chair, Making Music
Message from the Chief Executive With a new five year plan in place from the start of 2017, it was all systems go to work towards our ambitious vision of everyone in the UK having opportunities within reach to make and present their kind of music with others. Making Music helps people coming together in leisure-time music groups through practical support, by celebrating their achievements and by acting as their voice. Groups most worry about financial sustainability, and about new members and audiences, especially those under the age of 35. In 2017 we added 97 new resources to our website to help with these and other challenges. To help members take advantage of Orchestra Tax Relief, we invested in making it administratively easier for them and setting up a claims service. Our Youth Engagement Manager started rolling out events on recruitment and retention across the UK, and set up youth volunteers to carry out ‘youth health checks’, among other projects. Make Music Day 2017, the first large-scale UK-wide coordinated festival for the international celebration on 21 June, produced 180 events from Aberdeen to Falmouth, Swansea to Norwich, and enabled us to shine a spotlight on groups and to work in partnership with a host of new organisations on behalf of members.
Opposite: Member group Kitsch In Sync perform at London Bridge on Make Music Day © Rey Trombetta
We kicked off our Exploring Music Making project, to find out more about leisure-time music in non-classical genres, and to ensure that Making Music is welcoming to all. Research at our instigation by Professor Stephanie Pitts at Sheffield University led to the Making Music Making Communities report, investigating the economic and social impact of leisure-time music groups on their local area. We think members like what they’re getting from Making Music, as we have new members joining us all the time and old ones remaining loyal. So here’s a big thank you to our members, for being our greatest ambassadors. I’m incredibly proud of the great team of staff and volunteers at Making Music and would like to thank them for really caring about and going that extra mile to understand and support members. And members: do feel free, as always, to tell us what you think: we’re your association, and we’re listening.
Barbara Eifler Chief Executive, Making Music 5
Services
We’ve added over 90 new resources, from how to start a new group to tips on making videos to help groups market themselves. •
Guidance for groups: To help our groups spend less time on admin and more on making music, we produced more guidance to support them. This year, topics included increasing income, engaging under-35s, starting a new group and collaborating with other groups, as well as template policies, governing documents and press releases.
•
Free sheet music Our Adopt a Composer project composers and groups work hard all year to produce some fantastic commissions. We have collected all the works together from the last two years, some of which have been rescored, and have made them available for our members to rehearse or perform for free.
•
Orchestra Tax Relief: We produced a suite of resources on OTR to help instrumental groups get to grips with whether the relief could benefit them. We followed this up by launching a Company Tax Return and OTR Submission service to help groups claim OTR.
•
•
Artists expenses subsidy: We introduced a new subsidy for promoting groups with an income under £14,500 towards any professional artist’s or ensemble’s travel and accommodation.
Introductions to... We’re keen to introduce visitors to our website to the plethora of fantastic music that’s made in cities, towns and villages up and down the UK. This year we launched a series of introductions, with topics including barbershop, wind bands, brass bands, samba, handbell ringing and signing choirs.
Website in numbers
1.03m 59.5k 6
total page views in 2017
115.6k
‘find a group’ searches
57.4k
guidance resources viewed
views of members’ vacancy listings
Training events
48 
5
bookings
events across the UK
Information and advice events
37 events across the UK
16
  
different topics covered
96%
397 92% bookings
of attendees scored events 4 or 5 out of 5
on average said they would try something new as a result of what they learned at events
Partners We deliver many services by working with others. Our thanks go to all of our partners, but in particular to:
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Advocacy and campaigns
We want to make sure that leisure-time music groups have the right conditions to flourish, and are celebrated and recognised for their significant impact on individuals and communities. Music libraries As a non-statutory service, the provision of multiple copies of sheet music and orchestral sets via public libraries is particularly vulnerable to cuts as local authorities struggle with their budgets. The service value lies in the affordable access it gives, via the Inter Library Loans system, to a vast range of repertoire to leisure-time music groups. However, its significance for individuals and communities, participants and audiences is poorly understood by councillors or council officers.
FOSPAL (Friends of Surrey Performing Arts Library). No final decision has yet been taken on a proposed independent take-over or an inadequate in-house solution •
Music education Making Music collaborates with others in the music sector to support relevant campaigns. In 2017 we: •
joined the MIA (Music Industries Association) Education Committee to meet with industry and training providers to share information and potentially initiate joint activity
•
continued to support the ISM-led Bacc For the Future campaign for inclusion of an arts subject in the Ebacc measure to be introduced in schools
•
continued to support the Music Education Council through membership and attendance.
Making Music seeks to work with councils to find solutions that will see these services continue, but become cost-neutral to the local authority. In 2017: •
we helped Dorset consult with local music groups and shape a better offer
•
in Norfolk, we supported the Friends in fundraising £5,500 to keep the library afloat while a long-term solution is being developed
•
Nottingham City Council, nominated by Making Music, was presented by Howard Goodall with a national Heart for the Arts award for creating the new Nottingham Performing Arts Library Service (NPALS)
•
in the South West, we were consulted by a group of 12 music libraries on a way forward
•
in Surrey, one of the three largest collections in England, the threat of closure was avoided with a campaign kick-started by Making Music and
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in Westminster, we initiated a campaign to stop a reduction in opening hours and staffing.
National Musicians Church Despite a lively campaign with involvement from Making Music, the church closed its doors to hires by musicians. But the publicity generated served to highlight the crucial role church buildings play in offering suitable and affordable rehearsal and performance space, leading to the launch of a new website creating a London directory, which may become national. musicianschurch.org
Research
groups in the UK.
UK Live Music Census: Making Music contributed to the design of this census and encouraged participation from members.
Report: voicesnow.org.uk/research/big-choralcensus
Report: uklivemusiccensus.org Making Music Making Communities: Approached by Making Music, Professor Stephanie Pitts of Sheffield University started developing an evidence base for the significant social and economic impact of music groups on their communities, with a larger study to follow, funding permitting. Pilot report: www.makingmusic.org.uk/ resource/making-music-making-communitiesreport Voices Now report: We collaborated on this year-long investigation into the number of singing
Consultations and networks Making Music contributed to the consultation for the Culture Strategy Scotland, following detailed engagement with members in Scotland. We also contributed to the Ivory ban consultation and Centre for Music (London) proposal. Making Music chairs Singing Network UK, which brings together organisations with an interest in singing and is represented on the boards of Music Libraries Trust, National Music Council, and Voluntary Arts. The Making Music Chief Executive is the UK representative on the Board of Amateo, the European network of voluntary arts organisations.
Connections and partnerships including...
Brass Bands England
Cultural campaigning network
Music Network UK
Designed by Freepik.com
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Projects and awards
Making Music’s projects aim to celebrate the achievements and variety of leisure-time musical activities and support members’ ambitions and development. Make Music Day The first large-scale co-ordinated Make Music Day throughout the UK took place in 2017. Making Music led on this initiative in partnership with Music for All, supported by Classic FM, and with a network of 40+ organisations from right across the music sector championing the day, which featured 180 events from Aberdeen to Falmouth, Swansea to Norwich. This international celebration of music comprised performances and workshops in a broad range of musical genres and styles, from an equally broad range of performing ensembles, including primary school children learning to play the guitar on the London Eye; a Come and Sing event in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket; a flashmob performance of ‘Bring Me
Sunshine’ in London; open mic events; a jazz orchestra in a pub; performances in music libraries and hospitals, and on bandstands from Walsall to Swanage and more. See makemusicday.co.uk for gallery and 2018 events. With funding from Arts Council England, NAMM Foundation, Musicians Union, and in kind support from Music Sales
Youth Engagement In 2017, the project delivered seven events on how to engage better with under-35s. These took place in Leeds, London, Edinburgh, Warrington and Bristol and proved popular, with 64 member groups attending overall. We launched our Youth Health Check scheme; eight member groups signed up, and
Make Music Day ‘come and play’ event at Westminster Music Library © Rey Trombetta
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we initially recruited three youth volunteers to give them feedback on how they might make themselves more attractive for young people to join them or attend their events, the outcomes of which we will report on in 2018. We expanded our bank of online resources, with four new resources on recruiting and retaining younger members, where to find them, and becoming an Arts Award Supporter. We supported events likely to trigger youth engagement including Make Music Day, Youth Music’s Give a Gig week, and the Big Christmas Wind Orchestra, and worked with Bromley Youth Music Trust to encourage more music education hubs to engage with adult leisure time music groups in their local areas. With funding from the Pauline Thompson legacy
Exploring Music Making Making Music welcomes all kinds of music groups and musical genres but there are many groups that we know less about. In 2017 we launched a new project to discover what they do, what their challenges are, and what they need to thrive. Are these the same hurdles and aspirations that all leisure-time music groups have? And are music groups in different genres interested in connecting up, locally or nationally, and joining their voice to ours in terms of highlighting issues that affect us all? We hope an initial report, to be issued in late 2018, will start to give some answers to these questions. With funding from Arts Council England
Adopt a Composer Over the course of a year, several composers who have each been matched with a Making Music member write a piece specially for that group, culminating in a performance broadcast by BBC Radio 3. Along the way, groups are encouraged to share their stories through blogs and photos. The 2017 pairings were: Anna Appleby with Merchant Sinfonia (Glasgow) Max Charles Davis with Côr Crymych a’r Cylch (Pembrokeshire)
Philip & Dorothy Green Young Artists Musical stars of tomorrow are chosen for this award by a panel of professionals and are then available to Making Music members to engage as soloists to perform alongside them or to present in concert, with subsidies of up to 60% of the artist’s fee. The 2017-18 artists are:
Esmeralda Conde Ruiz with The Fretful Federation Mandolin Orchestra (Brighton)
Matilda Lloyd, trumpet
Edmund Hunt with The Singers (Newcastle)
Jonathan Radford, saxophone
Ben See with Stoneleigh Youth Orchestra (Surrey)
Rosanna Rolton, harp
Peter Yarde Martin with Bellfolk Handbell Ringers (Norfolk)
Emily Sun, violin
Gaynor Barradell with Edinburgh Concert Band (Edinburgh, funded by Creative Scotland)
Florian Mitrea, piano
Luba Tunnicliffe, viola Funded by the Philip & Dorothy Green Music Trust
In partnership with Sound and Music, in association with BBC Radio 3, and funded by the PRSM Foundation and the Philip & Dorothy Green Trust. Additional funding from Creative Scotland in 2017 for a seventh pairing of a Scotland-based composer with a Scottish music group.
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Membership
At the end of 2017 Making Music had 3,400 member groups representing approximately 180,000 individuals. There are three types of group membership:
£7,200 – £14,50 0 £7,200 or under
£ – £ 14,5 21 00 ,00 0
£31,00 0 – £100,0 00
00 1,0 0 £2 1,00 3 – £
1. Full membership Open to any leisure-time music group which is set up as a not-for-profit organisation and does not pay its members.
2,973
full members
2. Associate membership
Open to any music group or organisation, but only amateur groups are eligible for the insurance scheme.
295
associate members
3. Affiliate membership
Open to any network organisation wishing to purchase Making Music services for its own members.
132
Our members by level of income £7,200 or under 46% of members
£21,000 – £31,000 8% of members
£7,200 – £14,500 23% of members
£31,000 – £100,000 9% of members
£14,500 – £21,000 11% of members
Above £100,000 2% of members
groups represented by our 4 affiliate members
Individual membership
229 64 165
members in total at the end of 2015
individual members
Musical Instrument Plus members
12
Above £100,000
Group type breakdown
1,022 422 1,988
instrumental groups (30%)
promoting groups (12%)
vocal groups (58%)
Corporate members
Volunteers Making Music is fortunate in being supported by a large group of volunteers in a variety of roles. A heartfelt thank you to them from Making Music and its members for their help and contribution.
 
54 32 2
in total at the end of 2017
membership engagement volunteers
office volunteers
3
youth engagement volunteers
7
Selected Artists Panel
10
board members
Corporate supporters
13
Financial summary
Making Music’s accounts in 2017 comprised unrestricted fund income of mainly membership subscriptions and member services, alongside restricted fund income (mainly grants for specific projects) bank interest and royalties income from the Philip & Dorothy Green Music Trust, which supports the Philip & Dorothy Green Young Artists and the Adopt a Composer project.
Income Membership subscriptions
On the expenditure side, Making Music’s costs – as with most membership organisations – are its staff, the provision of membership services and associated costs, marketing, and office costs. Below is a summary of the financial information for 2017. The full accounts can be found at www.makingmusic.org.uk/report
£ £ 2017 2016 417,651
397,103
Donations and legacies
31,888
23,270
Advertising and merchandising
31,978
31,687
Investment income and interest
19,643
21,163
Grants, sponsorship and fees
69,518
25,999
Special events
17,887
18,963
Member services
32,764
25,763
Total
621,329 543,948
Expenditure
2017 2016
Costs of generating funds
16,607
4,720
Grants payable (PDGYA)
12,650
10,330
Events
118,045 101,690
Marketing
14,735 14,103
Staff costs (unrestricted)
293,364
263,083
Office costs
116,032
117,555
Other Total Surplus
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31,351 24,092 602,784
18,545
535,573 8,375
Staff and Board 2017
Board Chair
Peter Lawson
Vice Chair
Clare Birks
Honorary Treasurer
Peris Roberts
Directors
Chris Goodall Allan Grayson-Jones Andrew Palmer Glynne Stackhouse Valerie Taylor Dorothy Wilson
Co-opted Director
Ruth Irons
Staff in 2017 Executive Director
Barbara Eifler
Head of Finance
Workineh Asres
Head of Membership and Services
Ben Saffell
Projects and Membership Coordinator
Sally Palmer
Membership Coordinator
Joe Hooper
Office and Membership Assistant
Lily Funnell
Marketing and Communications Manager
Ollie Mustill
Publications Manager
Natalie Joanes
Communications and Events Coordinator
Rey Trombetta
Member Engagement Manager
Sharon Moloney
Manager, Scotland
Alison Reeves
Manager, Wales
Abby Charles
Youth Engagement Manager
Xenia Davis
PDGYA Administrator
Alexandra Scott
Governance Making Music is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee. Its governing document, the Memorandum & Articles of Association, states its objective as: ‘To maintain, improve and advance education by promoting the art and practice and public performance of music throughout the United Kingdom and in other countries.’ It is overseen by a volunteer Board of Directors, of which 9 are elected from and by the membership and up to 3 more who can be co-opted. The directors are also the trustees of the charity.
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History Frederick Woodhouse of the Incorporated Society of Musicians and Sir George Dyson founded the National Federation of Music Societies (NFMS) on 23 February 1935, with the support of the Carnegie UK Trust. In 2000, the NFMS changed its name to Making Music. Today Making Music is the UK’s number one organisation for leisure-time music groups, supporting, connecting, celebrating and championing local musical activity in all musical genres.
Making Music The National Federation of Music Societies 8 Holyrood Street London SE1 2EL 020 7939 6030 info@makingmusic.org.uk www.makingmusic.org.uk Making Music is the trading name of the National Federation of Music Societies, a registered charity in England and Wales no. 249219 and in Scotland no. SC038849. A company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales no. 308632. VAT registration no. 239 0186 63. Photo: Member group Aberdeen Chamber Orchestra Š Colin Hunter