Annex 1
MAKING MUSIC
Founded in 1935, Making Music, the National
Federation of Music Societies, represents almost 2,000 musical
societies in the amateur sector, including orchestral, choral
and concert promoting societies throughout the United Kingdom.
Statistics from a recent survey of our membership (see attached
appendix) show that these societies are made up of around 130,000
members (0.3 per cent of the UK adult population), all of whom
participate in music making as both performers and listeners.
Our membership collectively promotes over 7,680 concerts each
year or an average of nearly 150 a week, reaching an audience
of nearly 1.5 million, enabling even the remotest of communities
to have access to live and participatory music making.
In September 2000, alongside updating the organisation's
corporate identity, Making Music launched its five-year business
plan for the period 2001-2005. In this plan, Making Music Happen,
the work of Making Music was divided into five main areas of activity
on behalf of its members' societies and constituents in the musical
sector:
Membership Services
We are committed to ensuring the cost-effective
and efficient provision of member services, and to ensuring that
quality processes and procedures are in place to deliver such
services.
Lobbying and advocacy for voluntary sector music-making
We must preserve and enhance our role as the
key voice of amateur music-making in the UK.
Member support and development
We are dedicated to offering guidance and support
where needed to our members at a local level, and will deliver
this through a range of services such as training and development
activities, visiting of individual members, and provision of advice.
Work with and for young people
We aim to encourage music-making amongst young
people, both by the provision of additional performing and listening
opportunities, and by the building of links between our members
and schools and young peoples' organisations in their communities.
Advancing the cause of all live music-making throughout
the UK
Our principal charitable objective is 'promoting
the art and practice and public performance of music throughout
the United Kingdom and in other countries'.
These five key activities are to be undertaken
through three key delivery mechanisms: Development of our international
structure, Business resources and Communications.
Our structure
Working under the direction of a national Board
of Management, elected by our members, Making Music is staffed
on a daily basis by a full-time professional team of eight in
collaboration with almost twenty part-time staff both in London
and around the United Kingdom. Additionally, Making Music retains
close links with its member societies through the means of 13
committees in the ten English regions, Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland, whose primary function is to react to relevant issues
on a local level.
Making Music is a member organisation of the
National Music Council and is represented on the executive of
the Music Education Council. The Chief Executive of Making Music
is Chairman of the National Music Council and also meets regularly
with the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority to discuss music
education matters, and has been co-opted onto the Advisory Board
of the National Campaign for the Arts.
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