As the dust settles following Arts Council England's latest funding announcement, those of us within music education can't help but look ahead with foreboding to the next stage of ACE's Music Hub Investment Programme. The ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’ nature of the recent NPO (national portfolio organisations) decisions may well be a sign of things to come – the new National Plan for Music Education sets out the intention to reduce the number of hub lead organisations via a competitive bidding process. While this in itself may not be a bad thing (read Nigel Taylor's thoughts on hubs, and the NPME online), the division it is likely to provoke within the music education community has the potential to do more damage. Let's hope that the importance of partnerships and collaboration remains at the core of decisions to come, and that any structural changes ultimately result in improved music provision for children and young people.
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