How Inclusive Music Helps Communities Thrive

Space to Thrive is a community-led music programme from Berkshire Music Trust, creating welcoming opportunities for children, young people and local residents to explore music, build connections and express themselves through inclusive creative activity.

Ahead of their session at the Music Mark Annual Conference, we spoke with the team behind Space to Thrive about how its community-shaped approach is widening access to music-making, supporting confidence and belonging, and strengthening local partnerships.

How it all began

Space to Thrive grew out of a three-year inclusion strategy that explored who was missing from traditional music provision and how Berkshire Music Trust could better support them. Rather than asking people to fit into an existing programme, the team listened to local music-makers, practitioners and venues, asking communities what would work for them.

In Maidenhead, a volunteer community board helped shape the project’s early stages, with young musicians joining as Youth Project Producers and helping make decisions rather than simply being consulted. Their involvement has since informed Berkshire Music Trust’s wider approach to youth voice.

Making Music More Accessible

Space to Thrive aims to remove various barriers to participation, including cost, location or the feeling that music-making is “not for me”.

The programme includes Chill Jam, a free music-themed youth club, SEND music-making sessions delivered through the Soundabout Associate partnership, and choirs for people living with dementia. These activities are part of the core offer, not something that sits alongside it, and attendees do not need to play an instrument or have any connection to traditional orchestral music to take part.

The team found that school buildings were not always the right setting for every activity. DJing, for example, has proved particularly popular in community venues, where young people can meet after school without feeling as though they are returning to the classroom. Similarly, when Chill Jam moved to a community venue chosen for its accessibility, safety and transport links, attendance tripled within the first three weeks of the academic year.

One Young Person’s Story

A young person who loved music had not previously had meaningful opportunities to make music themselves. By combining resources from the Soundabout Associate programme with adaptive technology from the Trust’s inclusive instrument library, the sessions created a way for them to participate.

Their parents said they could not wait for each monthly session. Since then, the young person has also started keyboard lessons at their special school, with the programme providing a route into further music-making.

What Comes Next?

The project has highlighted the importance of venue, communication and who holds decision-making power.

Trusted community leaders can often reach people who may not engage through school recruitment or social media. The team has also found that giving Youth Project Producers responsibility for budgets and project delivery creates more meaningful participation than simply asking for feedback.

Attendance figures following the move of Chill Jam provide one measure of impact. Individual experiences, such as the opportunities opened up through the Soundabout Associate programme sessions, provide another.

Now expanding beyond Maidenhead, Space to Thrive is becoming a way of working rather than a programme tied to one place. The aim is not to replicate a single model across Berkshire, but to listen to communities, build on existing strengths and develop music-making opportunities that reflect local needs and aspirations.

Don’t miss your chance to join the Berkshire Music Trust session, as well as many more inspirational talks at the Music Mark Conference 2026 on the 16th and 17th November, in Liverpool. The programme is available to explore here, and don’t forget to book your tickets now!