PRS Foundation, the UK’s leading charitable funder of new music and talent development, announces today the 69 organisations receiving ongoing support through the Talent Development Network are:
• Asian Arts Agency
• AudioActive
• B:Music Limited
• Bradford Producing Hub
• Brighten The Corners
• Brighter Sound
• Bristol Music Trust
• Britten Sinfonia
• Carousel Project
• Cheltenham Festivals
• Cobalt Studios
• Come Play With Me
• Cre8ing Vision
• Create Define Release (CDR)
• Cryptic
• DIALLED IN
• Drake Music
• Drake Music Scotland
• eavesdropping
• FOCUS Music
• Forté Project
• Fuel Productions
• Future Bubblers Academy
• Future Yard CIC
• Generator
• Heart n Soul
• HQ CAN
• International Guitar Foundation and Festivals
• Jazz North
• Jazz re:freshed
• LatinoLife
• Manchester Collective
• Mercury Musical Developments (& Musical Theatre Network)
• Moving on Music
• Music Local / Launchpad
• Nerve Centre
• Oh Yeah Music Centre
• Oram Awards
• OTO Projects
• Oxford Contemporary Music
• Paraorchestra
• Presteigne Festival
• Red Note Ensemble
• Royal Philharmonic Society
• Saffron
• Serious Trust
• Showcase Scotland Expo
• Sound and Music
• SOUND CITY
• Sound Festival
• Sound Roots
• Supersonic Festival / Capsule Events
• Tees Music Alliance
• The Glasshouse International Centre for Music
• The Marian Consort
• The Music Works
• The Roundhouse Trust
• The Warren Youth Project
• Tomorrow’s Warriors
• Tŷ Cerdd – Music Centre Wales
• UD Music Foundation
• Ulster Touring Opera
• Un-Convention Hub
• Up Productions
• We Are The Unheard
• We Make Culture
• Wide Events
• Yes You Can YUC
• Yorkshire Sound Women Network
Examples of the impactful talent development programmes in the network being supported include:
- The Emerge programme from Asian Arts Agency which supports South Asian early-career musicians through bursaries, training webinars, recording opportunities and future commissions
- Britten Sinfonia’s Magnum Opus and Open 1 – developing mid-career and tipping point composers
- Nerve Centre’s intensive, year-long artist development programme which includes masterclass training, industry mentorship, and live showcasing opportunities.
As the Talent Development Network enters its third year, this cohort of organisations across the UK, have been connecting, sharing knowledge and opportunities and platforming each other, in tandem with delivering their own supported talent development programmes. While the funding directly supports music creator development programmes, these collaborations are playing a key role in creating a strengthened and better-connected web of support. In turn this allows the Network to reach more music creators and bolsters music scenes and music creator ecosystems.
Recent examples of notable collaboration include:
- Several of the organisations such as Music Leeds/ Music Local, Brighter Sound and Generator collaborating on the Northern Music Network, a consortium of industry focused northern talent development
- Ty Cerdd working with Heart n Soul to organise an accessible club night
- And this year’s FOCUS Wales featuring showcases, panels and events with the cohort including Wide Days, Forté Project, We Are The Unheard, Sound Roots, Generator and Tees Music Alliance.
With this PRS Foundation support over a 3-year period, organisations have been able to plan for the longer term, have opportunities to liaise with likeminded individuals and increase the support for talented music creators across the UK.
Joe Frankland, CEO at PRS Foundation, said, “As we move into year 3 of our first phase of the Talent Development Network, we’ve been so impressed with the expertise, passion, dedication and impact on display. TDNs are punching above their weight in their areas and specialisms. At a time when there are increasing barriers to development for music creators, growing sustained networks like this to support the huge amount of talent we have across the UK is more important than ever. In tandem with our direct support for music creators, this ecosystem support enables us to reach more songwriters, composers and artists while addressing infrastructure gaps and creating more sustainable and inclusive scenes across the UK.”
Peter Leathem OBE, CEO at PPL, said, “PPL is proud to partner with PRS Foundation on this third year of the Talent Development Network. A thriving music sector starts with sustained grassroots support, underpinned by collaboration across the industry. The TDN plays a crucial role in enabling music organisations throughout the country to nurture a broad range of emerging talent.”
The next phase of the Talent Development Network will launch in 2027, when PRS Foundation and partners will apply learnings from phase one and will manage an open call process which will result in grant support of up to £25,000 being pledged to support more transformational talent development work. Find out more on PRS Foundation’s website towards the end of 2026.
The Talent Development Network was created in 2024 by bringing together PRS Foundation’s Open Fund for Organisations and Talent Development Partner initiatives into a single programme offering longer term support over 3 year phases. This consolidation has made PRS Foundation’s support for organisations more efficient and strengthened the impact and evaluation of that support. It also removed some of the limitations of the previous Open Fund for Organisations and Talent Development Partner initiatives, creating a more effective and sustainable approach to supporting talent development across the UK.
Find out more at prsfoundation.com/funding-support/funding-for-organisations/talent-development-network.
