Making Music: INCLUDE

Our INCLUDE research programme was born out of the vision that everyone should have the opportunity to be part of a music group in their community. We wanted to learn what leisure-time music groups could do to include a wider diversity of people in their activities and what Making Music could do better to support them.

As part of our work as an Arts Council England Investment Principles Support Organisation (IPSO), funded under the Inclusivity and Relevance Principle from 2023-25, the INCLUDE programme followed four Making Music member groups in Levelling Up for Culture Places as they wrote, implemented and reviewed action plans to develop their diversity and inclusion work.

We learnt more about the opportunities and challenges for leisure-time music groups when delivering change and trying to connect with new people. From this experience we created a resource for music groups to create their own inclusion action plans and a set of four ‘Insights from INCLUDE’ that discuss different areas to act on:

Involvement in the programme had a positive impact on the four groups: each INCLUDE group reported that their level of confidence in understanding and implementing access and inclusion work increased due to INCLUDE.

'It has been a brilliant 18 months for us and transformational to how we work.'

Great Bowden Recital Trust

How we structured INCLUDE

The four INCLUDE groups took on the INCLUDE programme alongside their regular activities. As volunteer-led groups they have limited time available to them, so we decided on a balance of prescribed and independent activity. It was important that they had agency to choose what would be possible for their groups.

We asked the groups to host three events as part of INCLUDE: two discussion events and one performance event. These were resource-heavy (time and money); we provided funding that enabled the groups to experiment without the financial risk. Being specific about what we would fund enabled us to align the activity with the programme’s goals and compare activity between the groups.

We believe that we got this balance right: all four groups successfully delivered the activity we asked them to.

'Without the specified activity we probably would have ‘drifted’ but more specified activity would have been difficult to accommodate.'

Scunthorpe and North Lincolnshire Concert Society

Throughout INCLUDE, the groups were supported by a programme manager who provided practical and strategic support. Taking some of the administration away from the groups enabled them to concentrate on things that only they could do and kept the timeline on track.

We worked with the group for 18 months, from September 2023 – March 2025 and all four stayed engaged until the end of the programme. However, if we were to repeat this project we think that continuing to July 2025 would have been beneficial: we could have repeated the Make Music Day events and given ourselves a slightly more relaxed timeline for reflection and the production of final resources.

Who was involved

The Making Music member groups that took part were:

Great Bowden Recital Trust (North Northamptonshire, instrumental)
Great Bowden Recital Trust is a registered charity providing music-related activities for people of all ages living in South Leicestershire and North Northamptonshire. They believe in making access to music barrier-free by keeping the cost of tickets to a minimum, not holding auditions for any of their ensembles and taking a fully all-inclusive approach to all their activities.

Luton Choral Society (Luton, vocal)
Founded in 1866, Luton Choral Society is a choir of mixed voices, performing classical choral music concerts in Luton and the surrounding area, providing the opportunity for people to sing in a classical choir and for audiences to hear live classical music in their own locality. Their aim is to contribute to the cultural diversity of the Luton area by maintaining the town's longstanding and proud choral tradition.

OutSingCancer Choir (Arun, vocal)
Cancer United’s OutSingCancer choir are a unique choir for people whose lives have been affected by cancer. They currently have over fifty members split into two choirs who come together to embrace the joy of singing. They rehearse several times a week in various locations in preparation for live performances throughout the year and welcome new members of all singing abilities.

Scunthorpe and North Lincolnshire Concert Society (North Lincolnshire, promoter)
Since 1949, Scunthorpe and North Lincolnshire Concert Society has promoted an annual series of classical chamber music concerts by professional artists of international renown. They perform around seven concerts per year based at Outwood Academy, Foxhills.

Critical Friends Advisory Panel

We created a Critical Friends Advisory Panel (CFAP) to help oversee and steer INCLUDE. They offered valuable expertise and advice to Making Music and the groups. The CFAP met 6 times over the course of the programme, and attended an away day with representatives from the INCLUDE groups in London.

Roger Wilson (Chair), Black Lives in Music
Rachel Wolffsohn, The OHMI Trust
Dr Michael Bonshor, University of Sheffield
Rhiannon Harrison, Making Music Trustee
Dorothy Wilson, Making Music Trustee

What we did

Selecting the groups (August – September 2023)

We selected the groups using a two-stage application process. Groups submitted an online form then we invited shortlisted groups to a video call with the INCLUDE delivery team. The second stage was particularly useful for us to learn more about the groups and for them to learn more about INCLUDE and the commitment involved. We officially launched the programme on 25 September 2023.

Inclusion action plans

Each group wrote an inclusion action plan between October 2023 – January 2024. They all used our Census Comparison Survey to understand how their membership or audience reflected their community. These plans formed the basis of the work they did throughout INCLUDE.

The Critical Friends Advisory Panel read the plans, and we passed their feedback and suggestions back to the groups. The groups reviewed the plans in Autumn 2024 and agreed new actions for the next 12 months.

Inclusion events (February/March 2024 and February/March 2025)

Each group hosted two events for other leisure-time music groups in their area to explore inclusion. These were successful and participants particularly valued the opportunity to be in the same room together. Each group now has the initial stages of a network of musical organisations that they can connect and collaborate with. It also enabled us to extend the number of people and organisations that benefited from the INCLUDE programme. Across the two series of events we reached an additional 85 organisations, 40 of which were in a Levelling Up for Culture Place.

Make Music Day (21 June 2024)

Make Music Day is an annual celebration of music-making that takes place across the world on 21 June. We know this is a good opportunity for music groups to reach new audiences, so we provided each INCLUDE group with a budget to host an event on Make Music Day 2024. The groups chose what events they wanted to host with just three rules: events must be free, they must take place on 21 June, and they must include music.
Across all four events we reached 385 audience members or participants. An average of 72.25% people had not connected with the groups before.

INCLUDE working group

Throughout the programme we held online ‘working group’ meetings that brought representatives of all four groups together. This group met three times: January 2024, August 2024, and January 2025.

On 7 October 2024, representatives from each group and three CFAP members attended an away day in London.

The groups found these meetings useful, especially for hearing what each other were up to.

‘We felt that interacting with the other groups was of immense value.'

OutSingCancer Choir

Visits to the groups

The Inclusion Focus Programme Manager visited each group five times throughout the programme. These meetings provided strategic support with writing and reviewing action plans and support with planning and delivering events.

Being able to meet face-to-face was valuable for the groups and Making Music. It allowed us to experience what it felt like to be in each group’s environment and helped the groups feel more connected to Making Music and the INCLUDE programme.

Legacy

All four INCLUDE groups will continue to be members of Making Music, meaning they will stay connected to us even though their involvement in this project has ended. We will invite them to join our Access and Inclusion working group so we can continue conversations about their access and inclusion work. We will continue to promote the resources created during INCLUDE and are planning our next steps for our access and inclusion programme.

As part of the programme, each group had the opportunity to write about their experience and journey in embracing diversity, which you can read in the Blogs section below.

The INCLUDE programme has now finished, but if your group is interested in inclusion and diversity there is lots more you can get involved in. Please email us to find out more.

INCLUDE project timeline

‘Having watched groups work through a variety of inclusion issues in real time, Making Music has a unique knowledge set which can benefit the whole of leisure time music – and I would argue beyond that into all leisure activities. We have seen the value of communication and clear values/culture, and that translates to all leisure activities, and I hope Making Music can be seen as the industry leaders that they now are in this field!’