LCR Music Board plans progress with £1.6m funding

The Liverpool City Region Music Board is excited to progress with £1.6m plans to further develop the local music sector.

Using £1.6m from the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) approved by the LCR Combined Authority as well as match funding from local organisations and providers, the second phase of the ‘LCR Music Sector Development Project’ aims to deliver a programme to ensure business growth, skills and talent development and associated investment to strengthen the LCR music ecosystem.

Kevin McManus, Head of Liverpool UNESCO City of Music, said: “The local music sector is an important economic driver for the city region and this programme will help ensure that the sector can continue to grow, creating skilled jobs here, retaining talent in the region and making it a place where other music businesses want to invest.”

The skills development strand of the project will ensure delivery of apprenticeships and traineeships across the sector. The programme will also support industry career events, and outreach to young people, providing career advice and support in association with local music education hubs; aiming to support young people into full time sector employment.

The project will invest in talent development through established initiatives such as LIMF Academy and the Momentum programme delivered by PRS Foundation.

The Music Ecosystem element of the project will involve the creation of an LCR Music Office dedicated to supporting the growth of the sector. It will be a single point of contact for music businesses across the city region; providing information, advice and signposting to available support. Initially the Music Office’s focus will be on supporting the work of the Music Board and in particular the delivery of the SIF funded programme.

The Music Board is excited to get back on track implementing the Liverpool City Region Music Industry Sector Development Project which was developed by the Board and its sub-groups in consultation with the sector locally.

The project was initially devised pre-Covid, but the beginning of the pandemic led to an immediate change to the programme, so that it could respond to the needs of the industry. As a result, £150k of the initial SIF allocation was paid to Culture Liverpool in May 2020 to enable the delivery of an emergency support fund for music businesses suffering due to the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic. Over 50 music businesses were supported through this fund with grants of up to £5k per business.