B:Music receives award for Music and Community

Birmingham-based B:Musc received the fifth EJN Award for Music and Community at the end of the European Jazz Conference 2023 in Marseille.

The award is bestowed each year by the Europe Jazz Network (EJN) to an organisation or project for its groundbreaking work on social inclusion. 

The annual EJN Award for Music and Community acknowledges organisations that have: 

• enriched people’s lives via participation in music;  
• engaged local communities overcoming access barriers of all kinds;  
• educated or entertained through musical activities – and have done so for a period of time, as a constant effort to engage with society and its needs. 

The board of directors of EJN unanimously selected B:Music to receive the EJN award for Music and Community 2023.

The board commented: “In the face of some sterling competition, B:Music impressed and inspired us with the way in which their Generation Ladywood project clearly and directly sought out and involved young people from Birmingham’s culturally diverse local communities.

“Reaching and affecting young musicians at risk of exclusion, and from a wide range of backgrounds, abilities and experience, the diverse session leaders also reflected the demographics of those communities well. Generation Ladywood proves how long-term investment in group music-making can have positive and long-lasting effects on the lives of these young urban practitioners, when delivered with such commitment and passion.

“In addition to this, B:Music is running other projects that have similar aims, such as Progression Pathways and the Peer Mentoring Scheme, and has done an outstanding job in connecting all these different projects together, in order to be able to offer participants many opportunities for follow-up and long-term engagement.

“We hope these exemplary projects will be equally inspiring for other EJN members in their ongoing work in the field of social inclusion.”

The EJN Board of Directors in 2022/23 was composed by: Wim Wabbes - President (Ha Concerts, Belgium), Sunna Gunnlaugsdóttir - vice-president (Solfinna, Iceland), Kenneth Killeen (Improvised Music Company, Ireland), Enrico Bettinello (NovaraJazz, Italy), Karolina Juzwa (Intl Jazz Platform/Wytwórnia Foundation, Poland), Minnakaisa Kuivalainen (Tampere Jazz Happening, Finland), Øyvind S. Larsen (Oslo Jazz Festival, Norway), Steve Mead (Manchester Jazz Festival, UK) 

Toni Grehan, Community Engagement manager at B:Music, commented: “We are immensely proud to have won the European Jazz Network Award for Music and Community. Here at B:Music, we strive to develop projects that are in line with our ethos and motto 'To inspire a love of music through performance, participation and learning'.

“We have been working hard to make sure our projects have a true and meaningful impact for our communities.

“We have been striving for more diversity amongst our freelance team, in order for us to fully connect and inspire the students we are teaching, as well as introducing our young communities to a range of musical sounds that our freelance team can deliver.

“We have also been working hard to create a flight path of musical progression between all of our projects.

“We will continue to grow and further develop our projects, with our young community's personal, social and musical development at the heart of everything we do. 

“Thanks to all of the team at the Europe Jazz Network for supporting the great work we do here at B:Music."

This award showcases the breadth and quality of B:Music’s talent development and outreach programmes, which engage hundreds of children and vulnerable adults every year.

In order to sustain these life-changing projects, B:Music is looking to partner with local businesses and can offer a range of impactful sponsorship opportunities. To find out more, please contact head of Development and Impact Rachel Cranny on Rachel.cranny@bmusic.co.uk