Outreach initiatives have been central to the Trust’s mission from the very beginning, bringing music to schools, care homes, village halls and smaller centres. Projects have included collaborations with Wem Town Hall and ‘Music in Quiet Places’, as well as long-term engagements with specific community groups. For many years the Trust ran workshops in local schools, starting at the pre-school level and running through secondary school. Visits to care homes were arranged with the cooperation of artists who came to perform in Shropshire.
During the COVID pandemic, it became impossible to make advance arrangements, and so the Trust was unable to plan community-support programmes for the 2021-22 season.
However, in 2024, with the arrival of new Trustee Caroline Anne Nowotarski, the Trust’s school outreach programme was rejuvenated. Children in Shropshire are now benefiting from free music lessons thanks to a new scheme, ‘Take it Up!’, funded by the Trust. Six children in Years 4-6 at Greenacres Primary School in Shrewsbury have taken up instruments provided free of charge by Shropshire Music Service.
The Music Service began by identifying schools where there was the greatest need, and Greenacres chose children who they thought would benefit holistically from the programme. The Trust committed at the outset to fund a full academic year, with plans to roll out the pilot programme to a further school in 2025.
In addition to ‘Take it Up!’, the Music Trust has arranged for five children at Belvidere Secondary School in Shrewsbury to benefit from a string-playing workshop offered by The Dante Quartet when they come to Shrewsbury for a concert in February 2025.
Chair Jane Povey has noted that the Trust’s intention is to nurture new talent and extend the scheme to reach more pupils in the county. Sarah Browne, Head of Service at Shropshire Music Service, has said that the tuition being supported by the Trust will offer a springboard into the Music Service’s own groups, which include rock and pop ensembles, orchestras of all standards and a world folk ensemble.
