Music education in Birmingham’s primary schools will benefit from a £200,000 boost, as Birmingham Contemporary Music Group has been awarded funding to extend its innovative composing project.

The Listen Imagine Compose Primary (LICP) programme will see five primary schools host a composer-in-residence, who will work with classroom teachers and the school Music Leads to create regular opportunities for pupils to compose and embed music-making into the school curriculum.

The funding - which comes from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s Arts-Based Learning Fund - allows the LICP project to work with over 600 school children in the city over two years. There will also be opportunities throughout the project for teachers and composers from the different schools and those beyond the immediate scope of the project, to meet, identify common challenges, share practice and learn together.

In addition, research led by Birmingham Music Education Research Group (BMERG) at Birmingham City University, will study how the LICP approach and resources can be embedded into schools and sustained in the long term.

As well as the activity in schools, BCMG plans to develop itself as a centre of excellence for composing with young people, and offer support and guidance nationally.

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group is one of the world’s leading ensembles for contemporary classical music. The organisation was founded in 1987 by musicians from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, with Sir Simon Rattle. The ensemble has commissioned 200+ pieces of music from the world’s finest composers and emerging international talent, performs regularly and records extensively.

Birmingham-based primary schools and composers are invited to apply to be part of the Listen Imagine Compose programme, which begins in the Autumn term 2025.

For more details and to find out how to apply, visit bcmg.org.uk