Who are we investing in?

Resonance is a new venture in music education and community music, led by charity BICMP, at the centre of which is a trailblazing contemporary music institute. Working closely with Manchester Metropolitan University as an accreditation partner, the charity has developed an innovative undergraduate degree that would provide apprenticeship-style vocational training with truly meaningful industry links as well as support students’ all-round personal and professional development.The charity’s ambition is that, in addition to its impact on music higher education, the new institute will help to revive the neighbourhood by encouraging culture-led regeneration. Current plans for this include a strategic partnership to house the local music service and community radio at the music institute, as well as complementing the current cultural offer with community music activities, targeting vulnerable or underserved parts of the community.

What are we investing in?

Planned to open in October 2020, Resonance will have its own campus (and separate accommodation) at the heart of the Black Country, offering high-quality, industry-led higher education for up to 200 students every year across five strands - contemporary music performance, education, composition, entrepreneurship and production.

The new music institute will be based in Cable Plaza, a disused office building in the Brierley Hill Waterfront, a designated Economic Regeneration Zone and one of the 10% most deprived nationally in terms of education, skills and training.

The Arts Impact Fund invested alongside other grant and loan funding to provide a total of £9.6 million necessary for setting up Resonance, including the purchase and fit-out of the institute’s premises. We were able to offer Resonance a £300,000 loan - a small but critical portion of the total project cost that would go towards providing working capital and an opening balance for the charity.

If successful, Resonance will establish an innovative higher education programme that would benefit both individual students and the music industry more broadly. At the same time, it will galvanise and add to the local community’s music provision, boosting the economic and cultural regeneration of one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the UK.

Read the full case study on Resonance on the Arts Impact Fund website.