Grants boost for Yorkshire musicians from PRS Foundation

The UK’s leading charitable funder of new music and talent development announces today it is awarding PPL Momentum Accelerator talent development grants, in partnership with Music:Leeds’ Launchpad and supported by Arts Council England, to English Teacher, Harkin and Simeon Walker.

The grants for Leeds band English Teacher and singer-songwriter Katie Harkin will go towards recording and marketing, while pianist Simeon Walker’s funding will support PR, marketing and video production.

Selected by a network of industry experts, the three artists each receive grants of up to £5,000 to develop their careers and continue building momentum to the get to the next vital tipping points in their careers.

PPL Momentum Accelerator funding supports exciting artists with a growing fanbase, currently working to establish a music industry team, while the full PPL Momentum Music Fund support is for those artists with a team already in place and at a tipping point, ready to take the next step in their careers.

The next deadline to apply for PPL Momentum Accelerator Yorkshire will be announced soon and the next deadline for the PPL Momentum Music Fund support is November 16 at 6pm. Applications can be made via the PRS Foundation website.

This targeted Yorkshire edition of PPL Momentum Accelerator is in partnership with Music;Leeds’ Launchpad who offer opportunities and support for emerging artists, musicians, producers, bands, composers and industry professionals in the Yorkshire region. Throughout 2020, Launchpad is directly supporting 46 artists with a combination of live opportunities, recording support and one-to-one industry advice & mentoring.

Joe Frankland, CEO of PRS Foundation, said: “Congratulations to all three talented Yorkshire based artists receiving our PPL Momentum Accelerator support. It is important now more than ever to ensure that exciting UK music creators building their careers and fanbases have access to this type of targeted support. We’re delighted to be partnering with Music:Leeds and again with Arts Council England so that we could bring our PPL Momentum Accelerator to the talented music creators in Yorkshire. We’re excited to be building on the programme and our relationship with PRS Foundation’s Talent Development Partner organisations across the UK to continue to invest in talented music creators outside of London with varied and targeted support.”

Samuel ‘Whiskas’ Nicholls, Founder and Director of Music:Leeds, said: “It’s brilliant to be able to provide this boost to these artists based across Yorkshire, enabling them to make the most of the opportunities available to them, and make their next release have the impact they deserve. In combination with our Launchpad support and top level PPL Momentum funding, this will help generate a huge impact for the profile of artists in the region going forward.”

Managed by PRS Foundation, the PPL Momentum Music Fund initiative awards grants of £5,000-£15,000 using funds from PRS Foundation, PPL, Creative Wales, Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland. Spotify, the official digital partner on the fund, contributes additional funding and a reward package containing exciting promotional opportunities and a close working relationship between Momentum artists and the Spotify team.

This new partnership with Music:Leeds’ Launchpad and PRS Foundation’s PPL Accelerator targeted support for Yorkshire has been made possible thanks to support from Youth Music and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, Leeds 2023, arts@leeds, and PRS Foundation’s Talent Development Partner network.

From April 2013-March 2020 (Years 1-7), Momentum supported 390 artists and invested over £3.74m into new music. Based on the five Years of Momentum Report (2013-18), it means Momentum has supported 225 albums, over 260 UK Tours and over 1,400 live dates and generated over £18m for the UK music industry and UK economy.

PRS Foundation and Arts Council England initiated The Momentum Music Fund in 2013. Arts Council England originally established the need for this specific fund and supported the programme from 2013-18.