BBE has announced today that ten of its members bands will be financially supported by the BBE Project Fund.
Starting life as the Brass Band Emergency Support Fund during Covid-19, £3,500 of remaining funds were due to be allocated to bands. A call-out to BBE member bands asked for submissions for ideas for projects that would encourage youth participation, improve diversity, or commission and create new works for brass band.
The fund was oversubscribed with applications from 35 member bands being received. The successful applications all demonstrated thoroughly how they would use the funds to encourage greater participation in brass banding and help make the community more inclusive. The successful applicants were:
- The UniBrass Foundation: BandCamp 2023
- Knaresborough Silver Band: Echoes of the Fortress
- Warwickshire and Coventry Youth Brass Course: Building a Band Identity
- Hepworth Band: Youth Music Partnership
- Bratton Community Brass Bands: Brass Roots Club
- Hatherleigh Silver Band: Bandamonium
- Pontardulais Town Band: Brass @ Bont Academy Summer School
- Shepway Brass Academy: October Youth Workshops
- Haverhill Silver Band: Wheelchair Ramp Access
- New Mills Band 1812: Developing Young People
BBE Fundraising Manager, Beth Lambert, had the following to say: “We were so impressed with the quality of the applications for this fund and the innovative range of project ideas on offer. Myself and the panel faced some incredibly tough decisions but we were delighted to be able to fund ten different projects covering a really broad range of activities and we are excited about the difference this funding will make.
We are hoping to be in a similar position in future to offer funding pots to member bands and we will announce such opportunities in the BBE newsletters.
As always, we’d like to remind bands about the range of support available to them as part of their membership which includes access to the BBE Fundraising Service led by myself. Please do consider booking an appointment with me and we can talk through your project ideas and funding solutions available to you.
We do have the Christmas Crowdfunder campaign launching this coming Thursday, 5 October, and you can join me there to find out more. We’re also offering a fundraising service open week in the week commencing 30 October - keep an eye on the next newsletter for more details. You can book a timeslot with me, talk through your fundraising needs and I can support you in developing a strategy. We’ll also be releasing lots of helpful fundraising information during that week so do keep an eye on our social media pages!”
More details about all of the projects funded will be available as case studies on the BBE website in coming months.