Partnerships
Inspired by the joy of music we reinvest our income by partnering with like-minded organisations across the globe to help people start or continue their journey with music. We support and champion music education both in the UK and around the world.
Find out more about the partners we collaborate with on this page.
Access Music Project (AMP) is a music organisation based in South Africa’s Eastern Cape that supports musicians from disadvantaged local communities access high-quality music education, training and development opportunities. We have worked with AMP since 2019, initially through our International Sponsorship Fund, and our current partnership focuses on the development of their sound and technology course.
The mission of the Antigua & Barbuda Young Symphony Orchestra (ABYSO) is to inspire and empower youth to harness and develop musical excellence through a sustainable youth orchestra programme in Antigua & Barbuda. ABRSM has collaborated with ABYSO since 2020 and our funding supports the development of local musicians and teachers through ABYSO’s programme of individual and group tuition.
Black Lives in Music (BLiM) addresses the inequalities of opportunity for Black, Asian and ethnically diverse musicians in the Classical and Jazz industries. We established an exciting new partnership with BLiM in 2022 that encompasses a variety of strands, including a focus on our journey to becoming an ever more accessible, diverse and inclusive organisation. BLiM also plays a key role in supporting our composer mentoring programme.
ABRSM has supported Education Africa’s marimba hub programme since 2022, initially through our International Sponsorship Fund. The marimba hub programme reaches more than a thousand children each week from disadvantaged communities in South Africa and provides them with a safe and inclusive space to learn to play the marimba and build community.
ABRSM and the India National Youth Orchestra and Chorus (INYOC) share a commitment to opening up opportunities for young musicians from across India to experience high-quality music education and performance experiences. We are supporting their 2023 concert programme in Austria and India.
ABRSM and the Ivors Academy share an ambition to invest in the next generation of music creators, through creating more opportunities and pathways for people from all backgrounds and all parts of the UK. They have been great supporters of our composer mentoring programme since its launch in 2021 and we are a category sponsor of the Ivors Composer Awards.
Through our partnership with the Ivors Academy, we are also working with TheWRD in support of their 14 Day Music Career Builder online course, which helps emerging artists take their next steps in the music industry.
We have supported the London Music Fund since its inception in 2011. Our funding has supported their scholarship programme, which enables students showing outstanding potential from across London's 32 boroughs to learn a musical instrument for a four-year period. We also support and deliver a number of ‘Playing Days’ each year, bringing the scholars together for workshops to help them develop creative, collaborative, musical and performance skills.
In 2023 we are supporting their Senior Scholars programme, which offers graduate scholars the opportunity to develop their skills further and play a supporting role to younger scholars. We invited the Senior Scholars to spend the day with ABRSM in April 2023 and they did our first-ever social media takeover, which was a lot of fun!
Music Education Partnership Group (MEPG) is a membership organisation in Scotland that aims to tackle inequity, realise potential and challenge perceptions of music education. Our partnership supports their We Make Music Scotland initiative, with a particular focus on their Instrument Libraries project.
Music Mark is a membership organisation for music hubs in England, and schools and music organisations across the UK. We have worked in partnership with Music Mark over many years, with our funding primarily supporting their schools’ membership programme. Music Mark provides resources, professional development and a range of events, including its annual conference, and advocates for music education on behalf of its members.
Music Mark is also the managing partner for our exam discount scheme.
The National Children's Orchestras of Great Britain (NCO) exists to inspire children and young people from all backgrounds to achieve their full potential through learning and performing orchestral music. NCO supports our composer mentoring programme, and have commissioned pieces from our composer mentees to write for NCO’s Project Orchestras.
We work with the National Youth Choir to support leadership development for young professional singers through their Fellowship Programme. We also support their Learning & Engagement work in schools and communities, and collaborate on our organisations’ composer mentoring programmes.
We have worked in partnership with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) for many years, and have supported a range of programmes including Jazz Messengers and the NYJO Academy Mentor Scheme. NYJO is a key partner on our composer mentoring programme and regularly contributes to our resources for teachers and students, including our Classroom 200 resource for schools.
ABRSM is the major sponsor of the NYO Inspire programme, established by the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (NYO) to provide opportunities for dedicated teenage musicians from diverse backgrounds.
The National Open Youth Orchestra (NOYO) is the world's first disabled-led national youth orchestra, founded by our partners Open Up Music. ABRSM is a founding sponsor of NOYO and our partnership with Open Up Music focuses on championing access to, and progress in, music for disabled and non-disabled musicians across the UK.
A key focus on our partnership is around developing the Clarion, an accessible instrument created by Open Up Music that can be played by any part of the body including through eye movement.
Our collaboration with the Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) focuses on helping musicians develop the skills necessary to build sustainable careers and inspire musical achievement in the next generation. We have supported a range of RPS initiatives, including their Women Conductors and RPS Young Composers programmes. We are also delighted to be a Principal Supporter of the 2023 RPS Awards, one of the most celebratory occasions in the classical music calendar each year.
We are a delivery partner of the Tri-Borough Music Hub (TBMH) and support their work across the London boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea and the City of Westminster. We are collaborating on their Musical Senses programme, which provides opportunities for learners with visual or hearing impairments access high quality music education experiences, and sponsored their Music Makes Me event at the Royal Albert Hall in partnership with the Royal College of Music in June 2023.
The Commonwealth Resounds is managing partner for our international sponsorship programme, Play On (link to new page). ABRSM is also a founding sponsor of their Commonwealth International Composition Competition, which champions and supports the next generation of emerging composers.
ABRSM is a supporter of The Rondo Production’s RondoFest and Malaysian Wind Music Prize initiatives and in 2023 we are collaborating on our mentoring programmes for emerging composers.
ABRSM supports the Young Musician of the Caribbean Award (YMoCA), a classical music competition for instrumentalists aged 12 to 26 living in the Caribbean islands. It is the first competition of its kind to be held in the Caribbean and attracts many competitors from around the region.
