A pioneering music cooperative that provides regular work for 70 freelance musicians and teaches 5,000 youngsters a week is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
The Head of Service, Heather Powell, will be outlining the key to the success of the North Wales Music Cooperative to business leaders in Wrexham.
She will be one of the main speakers at the next meeting of the influential Wrexham Business Professionals group at Hotel Wrexham on Wednesday, March 19. The other keynote speaker will be royal composer Paul Mealor, the cooperative’s patron, who is also the artistic director of the North Wales International Music Festival held annually at St Asaph Cathedral.
Ms Powell founded the cooperative in 2015 after she and other music tutors in Denbighshire were made redundant due to the budget cuts and subsequently it expanded into Wrexham in 2018.
One of its most successful projects has been A Song for Wrexham, which recently attracted national TV coverage. Every high school in the Wrexham area was invited to contribute to the song. Ysgol Rhiwabon won the contest, with the school winning £1,000 worth of musical instruments.
The launch of a video to accompany the song saw a film crew from ITV Wales visit the school. So far, the video for the song has attracted more than 40,000 views online, while the project has been highlighted on a number of regional and national news sites.
Heather said that level of media exposure was a great boost to the cooperative – and to the city of Wrexham and its businesses.
She said:
“The response to the video and song has been really exciting. It has been terrific for the cooperative and for the children, but also for everyone involved with Wrexham, including the businesses. It is injecting pride across the city.”
The North Wales Music Cooperative runs two sister coops in Denbighshire and Wrexham.
The group works with pupils from more than 100 primary schools and 18 high schools in the two counties while providing work for more than 70 freelance music tutors who are also members of the cooperative.
Heather said the last 10 years had thrown up various funding challenges.
She said:
“I pretty much spend most days looking for funding, fighting for funding – that has become just part and parcel of the job.
“The company has expanded immeasurably over the last 10 years and we have won so many major awards, it has been fantastic. We are now planning our 10-year celebration concert on June 12 in St Asaph Cathedral, so it’s really an incredible story about if you are determined to do something, you can do it.
“The key to what we are doing is having the drive to wanting to make sure that music doesn’t become elitist and that it is for everybody. We want all children to be able to access music tuition, regardless of their background or their finances. We deliver thousands of sessions per week, so if we weren’t around, there would be a huge gap there. There would be a huge cultural gap and there would be a huge educational and wellbeing gap.”
The Wrexham Business Professionals event on March 19 is free to attend. Refreshments will be served at 8.30am and it will conclude at 10.15am.
Louise Harper from Wrexham Business Professionals said:
“The work of the music cooperative is ensuring our city’s musical culture is being safeguarded for the future.
“Within the business community, we all know the arts and culture are vital aspects of the city’s success, ensuring Wrexham remains an attractive and vibrant place to visit, live and do business.”
