Music Futures is a free contemporary music project and development opportunity for Wales’s music makers of the future. It enables young people aged 16-18 to grow into the artists that they want to be and supports them to make their mark on the current Welsh music scene across a wide range of genres –from Grime to Indie, Electronica to RnB.

Music Futures offers participants an authentic industry experiences, and a glimpse into a working musician’s life. The project will take participants through the full life cycle of writing songs –from writing and recording, to performing, touring, and promoting their music.

The project focuses on three key phases – a series of mentoring sessions for each participant with a working Welsh musician/artist as their mentor, a three day residency in Rockfield Studios, Monmouth and a live performance at an iconic Welsh music venue, with previous venues including Clwb Ifor Bach.  

The project specifically targets young people from diverse backgrounds, particularly those who are currently under-represented in the Welsh music industry. It is our aim that at least 40% of young people engaging with the project come from a global majority background in order to help foster a more diverse and inclusive Welsh music industry. This target was achieved during our previous project in 2022, with 11 young people out of the 19 we worked with identifying as global majority. This included all 5 members of our Future Mentor scheme – which was set up to support young people between the ages of 16-25 to gain meaningful freelance employment within the arts industry, whilst gaining training and developing their mentoring and facilitation skills.

Another key target of Music Futures is to ensure that at least 70% of participants continue to make, create and develop their music after the project ends. Through taking part in the project, participants gain new collaborative creative relationships – with many previous participants continuing to either work directly with their mentor, collaborate with each other in small groups or take part in other NYAW music projects such as Hard Cor (a new urban vocal group project created in partnership with Wales Millennium Centre).

Furthermore, the project has enabled participants and Future Mentors to meet with Music industry professionals, from representatives at Warner Music to staff members at BBC Horizons, Focus Wales, BBC Radio Wales and beyond. This stands them in good stead to see a career in music as a feasible and very real option, and provides them with the ongoing support and contacts they need to do well.

Music Futures has received funding and support from Welsh Government via Creative Wales.

Music Futures has been made possible thanks to an award from Postcode Community Trust, a grant-giving charity funded entirely by players of People's Postcode Lottery.