New focus on increasing access to music therapy in Manchester and the North West

Music therapy charity Nordoff Robbins is aiming to help more people living in the North West by setting up a dedicated Manchester Music Network to support our fundraising activities and plans to increase and diversify our services in the region.

The move comes as figures released this week as part of UK Music’s review into music in Greater Manchester show that music generates £169m for the local economy.

At Nordoff Robbins we hope the area’s rich musical heritage and aspirations to grow and strengthen its music sector will help us raise the profile of music therapy in the community and enable us to extend the reach of our services in the North West. We currently work with 48 partnerships in Greater Manchester in care homes, schools, hospitals, mental health units and as part of projects in collaboration with other centres and charities.

Nordoff Robbins’ regional development manager Gemma Snow said: “This music review published today is incredibly important as one of the key areas of focus is music education services to allow every young person in Greater Manchester access to music education regardless of their background. This opens up doors for music therapy in education as well as future proofing for our next generation of musicians and music therapists.”

Our new Manchester Music Network is made up of Sacha Lord, Night Time Economy Adviser for Greater Manchester, along with local music industry key influencers such as 6 Music’s Chris Hawkins, SJM, Matt & Phreds, and Manchester Pride.

To kick off our fundraising efforts in the North West we staged the inaugural Nordoff Robbins Cup football tournament earlier this month at Manchester’s Hotel Football supported by members of Salford City FC and featuring ticketmaster, SJM, and Parklife festival