A significant element of the OFM programme was how Music Hubs worked together to create a programme of CPD to develop and embed inclusive approaches in music.
Delivered in person and online, this CPD programme was offered for music leaders working across the 4 partner Music Hubs. Through this workstream we also identified a need to diversify and support the pipeline of new music leaders applying to work with Music Hubs. In response to this need Brighton & Hove Music & Arts (now Create Music), created a new paid internship role for Music Leaders, offering 4 internships across the course of the programme and produced a tool kit to help other organisations looking to explore offering paid internships as an alternative route to music leadership.
How do we ensure that the next generation workforce in inclusive music settings reflect the diverse communities we serve?
In this podcast Inclusion Manager at Surrey Music Hub, Jim Pinchen, talks to two music leaders with very different experiences of joining the inclusive workforce about what helped, and what hindered them. We explore what we can do as a sector to encourage diverse practitioners to get involved.
“I was lucky: I got to train as a community musician - that was always my goal but we need those spaces and opportunities for more practitioners to learn confidence of working with different groups of young people, in different environment by doing - this is very practical work. Inclusion isn’t something that happens separately - it needs to be ingrained and at the heart of music education, creativity and across everything that we do every day.”Creative practitioner
The OFM Intern Toolkit was established to be able to offer young people the opportunity to work inclusively with OFM to develop as part of the growing workforce. It contains a series of activities and a personal project as well as observation and feedback meetings. An overview of the toolkit is offered here. For more information and detailed templates and activity timetables, please contact OFM’s Strategic Lead, Emma Collins, on emma.collins@createmusic.org.uk
The skills grid shows the intern’s likely skills development and the types of activity they might do to support this. Key to this approach is that the OFM team will support the intern through a process of observation, supported and co-delivered activity prior to expecting the intern to undertake work independently. The skills grid provides a range of questions to support OFM to know whether the intern has reached the level of understanding or skill to move on to the next step.
It is anticipated that different interns will start the internship at different stages and will therefore progress across the skills grid at different rates.
