The Premier League and British music companies have teamed up to invest in young talent in football and music. The BRIT Trust – the charitable arm of the BPI, which represents UK record labels – has announced a major donation to fund community music initiatives as part of the Kickz project. Kickz is run by the Football Foundation, the UK’s largest sports charity funded by the Premier League, Football League, the FA and the government.
The BRIT Trust is to provide a substantial three year donation to the music element of the Kickz project. This will improve the facilities and mentoring of young people working to develop their musical expression and ability at participating football clubs.
The BRIT Trust donation to Kickz will be announced to an audience of Government Ministers and MPs at an event in Westminster tonight. Music stars Shayne Ward, Craig David, Jamie Hartman of Ben’s Brother and Tom Meighan and Chris Edwards of Kasabian will show their support. Also, Charlton footballer Chris Dickson, who attended the BRIT Trust funded BRIT School before moving to football, will provide the link between the two industries.
Kickz is run by all twenty Premier League clubs, along with another ten in the Football League. It sees club coaches work with local police to offer high quality football training and competition, as well as other positive activities such as music workshops, in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the country. Kickz specifically targets 12-18 year olds and there are now over 100 projects running three nights a week for 48 weeks of the year, involving more than 12,000 young people.
A group of young MCs, who have formed out of the Manchester City Kickz project, will also perform a track from a CD they have recorded, followed by a performance by Shayne Ward.
The initiative builds on the work that Premier League clubs and UK record labels already do to invest in young British talent. On the football side, clubs’ academies identify and develop young talent, leading many players from grass-roots through to the top of the professional game. In the music world, record labels perform a similar role; discovering and nurturing new artists and helping them to achieve their full potential. The BRIT School (a free state performing arts school, partly funded by donations from the BRIT Trust) provides training in a range of professional skills in the music world, and has taught many successful artists such as Adele, Leona Lewis, Katie Melua, the Kooks and The Feeling.
Speaking ahead of the “Investing in Talent” event Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore said:
"The Kickz project is probably the best example the Premier League has of the positive role football can now play in wider society. Through Kickz, clubs are making a huge difference to the lives of thousands of young people who are most in need of something positive to get involved in.
"It makes perfect sense for music to be a part of Kickz. Clubs can offer young people an opportunity to improve their football skills, whilst the new investment from the BPI can give those into music a chance to develop their talents too."
Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive of the BPI and trustee of the BRIT Trust said:
“Music and football are really important to young people and we’re delighted to be working with the Premier League to help young people in disadvantaged communities discover the positive role music can play in their lives.
“Record companies – like football clubs – invest hundreds of millions of pounds into new talent every year and give thousands of young people the chance to pursue a career doing something they love. Whether it is Leona Lewis at the top of the US charts or four British clubs in the Champions League semi-finals – Britain is outstandingly successful at music and football.
“The significant donation by the BRIT Trust to the Kickz programme will ensure that young people looking to develop their music-making will have access to better facilities, equipment and mentoring. We’re looking forward immensely to furthering our involvement in Kickz and finding other ways in which we can work with the world of football to reach out to help young people discover and develop their talent.”
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NOTES to EDITORS
Premier League. For more information on how the Premier League invests in community and education projects both at home and overseas, visit: www.premierleague.com
Kickz. The Kickz concept was born out of discussions between the Metropolitan Police and the Football Industry and was piloted at Tottenham Hotspur, Fulham and Brentford Football Clubs in April 2006.
Government support for the programme, through the Respect Task Force, saw Kickz extend nationally and led to the involvement of the Association of Chief Police Officers and Association of Police Authorities. The programme name and logo Kickz – Goals Thru Football was designed by participants on the programme.
With Funding from HM Treasury via the Football Foundation and additional support from the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), the youth volunteering charity v, the respect Task Force and the Department of Health, 25 Kickz projects were launched at clubs nationally during the 2006/2007 season.
In September 2007, the Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced further expansion of the Kickz programme as part of a three year, multi million pound investment from the Football Foundation and Metropolitan Police, along with support from the DCMS via the Premier League’s good causes fund. Six further clubs have since become involved in the programme. For more on Kickz, please visit: http://www.footballfoundation.org.uk/our-schemes/kickz/
The BPI (British Recorded Music Limited) is the trade body that represents the British recorded music industry. It has over 400 record company members large and small who between them account for in excess of 90% of UK recorded music sales. These include the four “major” labels, EMI, SonyBMG, Universal and Warners. The BPI organizes the annual BRITs show and the organizing company, BRIT Awards Limited, is a fully owned subsidiary of the BPI. Proceeds of the show go to The BRIT Trust, the charitable arm of the BPI that has donated almost £15m to charitable causes since its foundation in 1989.
The BRIT Trust is the principal vehicle through which the record industry makes charitable donations. It was conceived in 1989 by a collection of leading music industry individuals with a mission to give young people a chance to express their musical creativity regardless of race, class, sex or ability. It is the only music charity actively supporting all types of education across the entire spectrum of music. Through the projects it supports the Trust offers young people the opportunity to enhance their lives through music. The main beneficiaries of the BRIT Trust are the BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology (www.brit.croydon.sch.uk), Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy (www.nordoff-robbins.org.uk) and other selected charities. Over 7,000 young people have been given free education and the opportunity to enter the BRIT School since its opening in 1991 and more than 10,000 children and adults have been helped by the extraordinary music therapy work carried out by Nordoff-Robbins.