Youth Music Initiative: Access to Music Making

Scotland's Youth Music Initiative pays for music-making with children and young people aged 0–25, with a stated bias towards those who would not otherwise get the chance. For a freelance musician it is one of the more practical routes to paid work: leading sessions, running a project with a community group, building something that reaches young people who are currently missing out.

Both individuals and organisations can apply, provided they are based in Scotland or delivering in Scotland for the benefit of Scottish children and young people. Schools, their parent-teacher associations and local authority music services cannot apply. Organisations already on Creative Scotland's Regular Funding can, but must speak to their lead officer first and show the activity is genuinely additional to their existing agreement.

The published guidelines describe a pot of £1.2 million shared with the companion Strengthening Youth Music fund, split into two routes: open applications between £1,000 and £30,000 for up to a year of activity, and targeted applications of £30,000 to £70,000 that Creative Scotland invites directly. Creative Scotland's announcements of the current round have quoted a different upper limit, so confirm the band before you build a budget.

Applications go through Creative Scotland's portal with a budget on their template. The fund page and the news announcements also currently disagree about whether this round is open, which is worth a call to the enquiries service before you invest an afternoon.