Youth Music launches NextGen Fund with £2,500 grants for young creatives

Built for 18- to 25-year-olds, the NextGen Fund is available to singers, rappers, songwriters, producers, DJs, A&Rs, managers, agents, activists and those who wish to follow other creative avenues in the music industry. The grants are also available to those who are under 30 who identify as Disabled.

The creative projects the NextGen Fund can support include: 

• Music based projects – a single, EP or a contribution towards an album
• A music-based business such as a record label or music platform
• A platform that supports underrepresented voices

All those who receive the fund will need to launch their projects within a year of being awarded the grants, and any ideas that are not accessible to the general public cannot be funded, such as a training course with no project outcome. 

We’ve launched the NextGen Fund to help emerging musicians and behind the scenes creatives take a step forward in their careers.

It’s built for creatives with a stack of ideas but a lack of finance. pic.twitter.com/sgoNY2XMWV

— Youth Music (@youthmusic) June 2, 2021

Youth Music is hosting free virtual introduction events on Tuesday evenings throughout June and July for applicants who wish to learn more about the NextGen Fund. 

The workshop schedule is as follows:

8 June – Introduction to Youth Music NextGen with Elijah & Domenica 

15 June – How to get paid: an introduction to PRs for Music

22 June – Hooversound Recordings: Starting a record label during a pandemic with Naina

29 June – Becoming self sufficient as a creative with Andy Musgrave (Founder of Supernature and Manager of AJ Tracey)

Applications for the NextGen Fund open on 3 June and the deadline for the first round of grants is 9 July at 5pm. Find out more on their website. 

youthmusic.org.uk/nextgen