Eight Making Tracks Fellows selected annually

We are open to different genres, but specifically interested in music with direct or implicit connections to cultural traditions and heritage, as well as environmentally-engaged artists working with soundscape field recordings or sound art. Open to musicians based in the UK and around the world, Making Tracks is particularly interested in collaboratively-minded music professionals who double up as community organisers, environmentalists, ethnomusicologists, writers, storytellers and more.

A month-long Residency and Tour

Our two-week Making Tracks Residency gives selected Fellows the chance to create new collaborative works, explore and develop strategies for environmental engagement, and receive professional development and career advice from industry experts. A two-week UK tour takes place following the residency. We visit some of the most beautiful small-medium sized venues in the country, including The North Wall (Oxford), The National Centre for Early Music (York), St George’s (Bristol), Firth Hall (Sheffield) and Norwich Arts Centre.

10 youth music workshops

Held alongside our public concerts, in partnership with venues, schools and local Music Education Hubs, our programme of workshops aims to provide young people throughout the UK with unique opportunities to experience and engage creatively with diverse music and culture, and use music to engage with the natural world. Workshops are complimented by online resources on the Making Tracks Education Portal, which is available to participating schools.

Widening access to diverse music throughout the UK

Making Tracks was founded partly in order to widen access to culturally diverse music in the UK - particularly for those living outside of London. We do this by working in partnership with a network of venues and Music Education Hubs throughout the country, to deliver an annual programme of concerts and youth music workshops. Our workshops aim to reach young people experiencing inequality of opportunity to access and participate in diverse music and culture throughout the UK, with participants also given free access to concerts.

Supporting the work of environmentally-engaged musicians

As young people mobilise and discourse around climate change and the environment becomes increasingly mainstream, we believe that music must come to play a greater role. Making Tracks focuses on inspiring and facilitating environmental engagement on both practical and creative levels. We believe that musicians are in a unique position to inspire reverence and engagement with the natural world among the wider public, and are committed to creating opportunities to explore and facilitate this work.

Building the careers of young music professionals

Making Tracks contributes to the professional development of exceptional young music professionals. Through the professional development offered during our opening residency and the project more generally, Making Tracks Fellows are introduced to a wide range of industry professionals and enter into a growing network of adventurous musicians and change-makers around the globe.

Minimising our environmental impact

Environmental responsibility will always underpin everything we do - as we believe it should for the Arts in general. We are taking numerous steps within our operations to reduce our impact. These actions, such as drastically reducing the number of flights taken by musicians involved in the project, resulted in a 60% decrease in transport-related emissions in 2019, compared to the previous season. In 2022 we will be expanding our focus on train travel for selected artists.