Ed Sheeran has launched a new foundation that aims to support and champion music education across the UK. The new organisation has already supported eighteen grassroots music education programmes and state school music departments, seeking to improve access to instruments, while also creating performance opportunities and opening pathways into the music industry.
Despite the music industry having a £7.6 billion impact on the UK economy, “disparities remain in terms of access to music education”, the foundation says, adding that it will work to “address some of these inequalities”. Sheeran himself adds, “Music education has shaped who I am. I’ve always enjoyed playing music, and it’s led to some of the best moments of my life”.
To celebrate the launch, Sheeran last week visited some of the organisations the Foundation is supporting, in Cardiff, Coventry, Edinburgh and Belfast. In the latter, he was joined by Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody, with the two musicians meeting young people involved in programmes run by Drake Music Northern Ireland, Hotbox Entertainment and the Oh Yeah Music Centre.
Lightbody, who has supported music in Northern Ireland through his own foundation, commended Sheeran’s proactive support of music education, saying, “I’m genuinely excited about what this means for music in the UK as a whole, and, on a personal level, I’m particularly encouraged by what it could mean for Northern Ireland”.