Launched in the week of Earth Day 2021 , this year the Arts Foundation has teamed up with PRS Foundation to create a new music award. The Music for Change Award will celebrate UK based artists, songwriters, composers, producers, and experimental sound artists who have a track record of focusing on the underlying themes related to the climate crisis such as ecology, the environment and social cohesion.
The £10,000 award will incorporate music creators from all walks of the music spectrum, from Rock and Pop to Contemporary Classical and Opera, Dance and Electronic genres to Black Music genres, Jazz, Folk and everything in between. Criteria will include those who advance our thoughts about climate change and understanding of solutions as well as ecologically motivated practices and those with music practices related to community building and development, volunteering and voting. Three further finalists will receive £1,000 awards.
The Arts Foundation and PRS Foundation support the vision of the transformative role of culture and creativity and believe that interventions can enable and accelerate positive change on a larger scale, embedding deep ecological principles into the everyday.
Director of the Arts Foundation, Shelley Warren added, ‘Artists and arts organisations are increasingly being called upon to activate the social imagination, making available new ways to know and understand an increasingly complex world. Artists provide a critical lens that educates, and holds a mirror to society, influencing what gets attention in the public sphere and shaping perspective and opinion. We are delighted to be supporting with PRS Foundation such creatives with this award.’
The Award comes at a time when the global pandemic has further identified a wide range of issues related to how society works and the importance of social cohesion and community as well as the shift in focus to local issues, social exclusion and poverty. The Music for Change award acknowledge these changes and hopes to highlight those music and sound makers who are helping to inspire and educate future generations about the important issues of today.
Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement Award winning and PRS Foundation Chair of the Board of Trustees, Nitin Sawhney CBE said, “I’m delighted that PRS Foundation are partnering with our friends at the Arts Foundation to once again shine a light on outstanding music creators. Now is the time to recognise those music creators whose work covers climate action, sustainability and other areas of social concerns and so it is fantastic to see that this will form the criteria of the category we are supporting this year. I very much look forward to finding out which music creators in this field are nominated over the coming months.”
In Autumn 2021 four finalists will be selected from a longlist of music creators, nominated by music experts from around the UK. For more news about the award please visit our website or follow us on instagram or twitter. Or email us on info@artsfoundation.co.uk.
The Arts Foundation and PRS Foundation
With the inception of its fellowship scheme in 1993 the Arts Foundation has awarded over £1,900,000 to nominated artists from the fields of Performing and Visual Arts, Design, Crafts, New Media, Literature and Film. Awards of £10,000 are made to assist the artists with living and working expenses and are made on the basis of both talent and need to artists living and working in the UK. The Arts Foundation has supported creatives who are actively involved in sustainable change particularly through their design awards. In 2020 the Social Innovation in Material Design award was won by fashion designer Bethany Williams and the award attracted much critical acclaim in its ability to attract and support future thinkers in the area of materials and sustainability. In 2021 the Arts Foundation included Environmental Writing as one of their awards which was won by Joanna Pocock.
PRS Foundation is the UK’s leading charitable funder of new music and talent development. Since 2000 it has given more than £38 million to over 7,800 new music initiatives. In 2020, PRS Foundation grantees secured hundreds of high-profile nominations for major industry awards and won BRITS, AIM Awards and Ivors Awards – From 2018-20, 50% of Mercury Music Prize nominees have previously received PRS Foundation support, including winners Wolf Alice and Dave.
PRS Foundation grantee success stories include Little Simz, Sam Fender, Years & Years, AJ Tracey, Anna Meredith, Yola, Glass Animals, Ms. Banks, Ezra Collective, Jade Bird, Ghetts, Shiva Feshareki, Sarathy Korwar, Floating Points, Nadine Shah, The Fanatix, Imogen Heap, IDLES, Kae Tempest, Kojey Radical and Emily Burns.
Well known as an inclusive, collaborative and proactive funder (home to Women Make Music, Keychange and Power Up), in 2019 56% of music creator grantees were women, gender minority and mixed gender groups; 18% of creator grantees were Black; and PRS Foundation supports outstanding talent from all backgrounds, covering the whole of the UK and all genres.
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