Ed Sheeran has written to UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and UK government officials calling for immediate, long-term funding for UK music education.
This follows the launch of the Ed Sheeran Foundation in January – a nationwide initiative aimed at providing “inclusive, high-quality music education”.
The letter has surpassed 500 signatures and includes backing from artists like Harry Styles, Central Cee, Coldplay, Stormzy, Elton John, Dave, Yolanda Brown, Myles Smith, Paloma Faith, Annie Lennox, Sleaford Mods & More
In the open letter, Sheeran appealed to the UK government to commit £250 million ($320m) worth of funding towards music education, which, according to a press release, “would provide much-needed support and focus across the sector”.
Sheeran is campaigning for five key areas of growth as part of his newly-launched Ed Sheeran Foundation: music funding in schools, training for music teachers, funding for grassroots venues/spaces, music apprenticeships, and a diverse music curriculum.
Addressing the Prime Minister as well as the departments of Culture, Education, Foreign Office, Health & Social Care and Business & Trade, Sheeran and other music industry figures backing the letter believe “a cross-departmental taskforce will provide the vital attention, focus and funding music education requires, and that these responsibilities sit across government as to ensure music education doesn’t continue to fall through the cracks”.
The letter follows on from two speeches at last month’s BRIT Awards, where Myles Smith and Ezra Collective urged the UK government to address the demise of grassroots venues, music funding, and music education.
The music industry is estimated to have contributed £7.6 billion to the UK economy in 2023.
Sheeran said: “I launched the Ed Sheeran Foundation because I believe in the importance of music and that music education should be accessible to all. When I was at school, music gave me purpose, it helped with my mental health, it bought me and many others joy, and it gave me my career.
“Over recent months, I’ve been lucky enough to meet, speak and listen to a number of young kids and teachers across the UK, and it’s confirmed to me that music education is suffering. There’s so much talent out there, so much passion but these kids don’t have the support to realise their dreams of entering the music industry, and I wanted to write this letter on behalf of them.”
“We urgently need funding going directly into the hands of schools and communities on the ground. We’re losing time.”
Ed Sheeran
Added Sheeran: “I acknowledge that the government recently announced a new package on arts education, which is encouraging, but we urgently need funding going directly into the hands of schools and communities on the ground. We’re losing time.
“This creative industry brings so much to our culture, our communities, our economy, our personal wellbeing, but music education has fallen through the gaps. That’s why I’m tasking government, collectively, to correct the mistakes of its past and to protect and grow this for generations to come.”
The Ed Sheeran Foundation is dedicated to supporting music education in state schools and grassroots organisations across the UK, particularly in areas where it is less accessible.
Sheeran marked the foundation’s launch by visiting young people, teachers, and youth workers in Cardiff, Coventry, Edinburgh and Belfast.
The foundation itself has already supported 18 grassroots music education organizations and state school music departments, impacting over 12,000 children and young people.Music Business Worldwide
