23/03/2004

Talented children to benefit from music and dance grants

New national grants in music and dance for exceptionally talented children, allowing them to gain access locally to specialist training, have been announced by the School Standards Minister today.

David Miliband said that there would be four new centres for advanced training from September 2004 based in Newcastle, Leeds and London with the aim of establishing one in every region over the next few years.

Speaking at a music conference at the Purcell School in Hertfordshire, Mr Miliband said: "High standards and creativity go hand-in-hand. Creativity stimulates high standards and music, with other performing arts, can make a special contribution to education.

"Not only do we want to give all children the opportunity to enjoy and participate in music but we also need to identify and nurture those with a real desire and the dedication required to make music or dance a career."

Talented children will receive most of their specialist tuition at existing junior departments of music conservatories and four new centres for advanced training.

The new grants will be provided through the Music and Dance Scheme, and differ from existing provision in that the training programme will be developed specifically for the individual child out of normal school hours and will not necessarily all take place at one training organisation.

(gmcg)

Related UK National News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

19 January 2005
Report reveals massive rise in music downloads
A report into the digital music market has revealed that the popularity of downloading music from the Internet is increasing rapidly.
10 July 2003
One-in-three CDs are counterfit
Global sales of pirate CDs have more than doubled in the last three years to exceed one billion units for the first time - meaning that one-in-three of all CDs sold worldwide is a fake, according to a new report published by the international recording industry today.
07 February 2013
Digital Music 'Becomes Mainstream'
Consumer take-up of digital music service is set to catapult to even greater heights, confirms a new report published today by recording industry trade body The BPI.
29 November 2004
BBC Two to air Top of the Pops
The BBC's flagship pop music programme, 'Top of the Pops', is to move to BBC Two from spring 2005. Combining the best of Top of the Pops with Top of the Pops 2, the new format will feature both the latest bands as well as music archive, aiming to appeal to a diverse audience of music lovers.
10 September 2004
New plan set to build on teachers' expertise
Plans have been announced today designed to boost teachers' professional development and give every teacher the opportunity to improve their classroom practice.