Contemporary and Commercial Music Development Manager

Berkshire Music Trust values commercial and contemporary music as an important part of it’s mission to support all young people to engage in music. This year, we are setting out our intentions for the next four years with the development of our new Berkshire Music Trust strategy. This includes significant support for young people as they tell us that they want to explore more commercial and contemporary music.

Historically, we have not contributed enough time and resource to this area. However, with commercial and contemporary music now being a key priority for the SLT team, it is important that we find the right person to manage this area so that we can move forward at pace. This is the beginning. The strategy is not fully developed, and will also include a separate commercial and contemporary music strategy which will be developed as part of this role.

Current activity in this area is limited, but very effective and valuable. Our MPower activity, a collaborative enterprise lead by our Contemporary Music and Youth Voice Lead, showcasing our Berkshire Music Trust rock groups and those of our partners is well received and feedback from our last MPower gig at Christmas, was a resoundingly positive one with participants and their families asking for the next opportunity.

The Vision

We want contemporary and commercial music to be a major part of what we do at Berkshire Music Trust. The progression pathway for this area must be developed in collaboration with our embedded schools and music centre teams, whilst also creating its own identity within the charity and then projected out into Berkshire.

MPower will develop into a brand that is led by the people it serves. With its own online space (in development), it will house information, be a space for people to share their music, house any online learning content and feel and look very different to our Berkshire Music Trust website.

Key growth areas identified:

• Digital music making
• Online musical learning
• Gigs, live performances
• Battle of the Bands
• Workshops with industry professionals
• KS2 School Offer – School Band experiences
• Music Centers – SoundStage (Band Programme) and MXMKR (Music Production) programmes – already established in some centres

New Role and Structure

This new role is operational with an amount of teaching required until the area is self-sufficient. This means that alongside the Inclusion and Partnership Manager, this role spans both operational insight and delivery work.