Music tuition project for children to receive £9.5m in funding this year

A flagship Scottish Government music programme for young people will receive £9.5 million in funding this year.

The Youth Music Initiative (YMI) was set up in 2003 and has provided music tuition to children over the past two decades.

The programme usually boasts a budget of £9 million, but this year an additional £500,000 of ring-fenced cash has been handed over to Creative Scotland – the administrators of the programme – to help diversify YMI into other artistic areas.

Culture Secretary Angus Robertson announced the funding during a visit to Murrayburn Primary School in Edinburgh on Wednesday.

He said: “Music plays a vitally important role in young people’s lives, and beyond developing their wider skills and learning we know these kinds of activities also have a huge positive impact on their confidence and wellbeing.

“We are committed to ensuring every school pupil in Scotland can access a year of free music tuition by the time they leave primary school through the YMI, no matter their background.

“YMI is focused on creating opportunities for groups of children and young people who may not otherwise have the chance to participate in cultural activity.

“This year’s funding takes our investment in this programme to more than £150 million since 2007, to enable free music tuition for hundreds of thousands of young people, and support thousands of music sector jobs across the country.”

In the 2021-22 academic year, it is estimated more than 362,000 children took part in projects funded by YMI, which also support more than 1,000 music education jobs across the country.