Music projects to break down barriers to opportunity

A University of South Wales project has received funding as part of a series of projects that will all use music to break down barriers.

The projects are funded by the University of Southampton’s AHRC Hub for Public Engagement with Music Research, which works to uphold the Government’s manifesto statement that ‘the arts and music will no longer be the preserve of a privileged few’.

The projects, all collaborations between researchers and non-academic partners, are:

‘Musical Connections: Nurturing Musical Cultures in Autism Resource Bases Across the UK through Participatory Action Research’, hosted by University of South Wales in collaboration with Live Music Now. As the number of Autism Resource Bases (ARBs) within mainstream schools grows, this project will increase the provision of high-quality music education in ARBs across the UK to enhance social, emotional and academic outcomes.

‘EQUALIZE’, run by the University of Westminster and Young Sounds UK. This project will develop training for music teachers on electronic and black British music to address the fact that while electronic and Black-British music are vital parts of the UK’s popular music landscape they are largely absent from the British secondary school curriculum, a disconnect that echoes the declining uptake of GCSE and A-level music.

‘In Practice and Policy: Co-Creating an Ethical Framework and Organisational Decolonisation Process with Young Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Migrants’, a collaboration between South London-based charity Fairbeats and Birmingham City University. This project will address issues of safety and self-expression for children, young people and their families with experience of seeking asylum and forced immigration. Participants will help to develop the ‘Fairbeats Ethical Framework’ to support music leaders working with children who have experienced asylum or forced immigration.

‘What Words Do You Not Yet Have? Queer Musical Storytelling on Love, Life and the Law’, hosted by the University of Sheffield and SAYiT. As queer communities grapple with issues such as ableism, classism and transphobia, this project will draw on established frameworks in community music research to run musical storytelling workshops to foster solidarity within LGBTQ+ communities in Sheffield and Bradford. Teaching resources, briefing notes for community organisations and academic evaluation will increase understanding of the transformational power of these workshops.

Dr Beth Pickard, Senior Lecturer in Allied Health at USW said: "I feel very privileged to collaborate on this research project with Live Music Now, since we share a commitment to widening access to music in general and to music education specifically, and I welcome the opportunity to bring my research experience in critical disability studies to inform our work together.

“The AHRC Hub for Public Engagement in Music Research's commitment to social justice is a great fit for our vision and we are over the moon to have been selected to receive this research funding. We have proposed an ambitious schedule of research activities for the coming twelve months, which we hope will enable us to facilitate wider dialogue in the sector about the importance of access to music for all children and young people, but particularly for autistic children and young people attending Autism Resource Bases (ARB). Using a Participatory Action Research methodology we will centre the voices of autistic people throughout, including autistic musicians, education professionals and experts by lived experience. We look forward to building on the pilot work undertaken over the past three years and to developing regional approaches and policy recommendations for music provision at ARB across the UK."

Dr Johnson-Williams, Project Lead and Lecturer in Music Education and Social Justice at the University of Southampton, said: “We are delighted to launch these four amazing projects, which all use music to explore timely issues relating to the transformational power of social justice.”

The projects will run for 12 months, culminating in a showcase concert at the BBC Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff on 7 July 2026.

Find out more on the project website.