Young Sounds UK and Black Music Research Unit to ‘EQUALIZE’ music education with new partnership 

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We’re thrilled to be delivering one of four research projects funded by the University of Southampton’s AHRC Hub for Public Engagement with Music Research. The projects, all collaborations between researchers and non-academic partners, will use music to break down barriers to opportunity will  kick off this summer.  

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EQUALIZE

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EQUALIZE is a cross-sector collaboration designed to revitalise music education by aligning it more closely with young people’s musical identities and creative practices. Led by Young Sounds UK and the Black Music Research Unit (University of Westminster), in partnership with Punch Birmingham, and Bradford Music and Arts Service, the project brings together national and regional expertise to reshape how music is taught in schools. 

Building on our Discover programme, the project will develop an innovative training model for music educators. It seeks to bridge the gap between young people’s engagement with electronic and Black-British music outside school and their formal music learning experiences. While electronic and Black-British music are vital parts of the UK’s popular music landscape they are largely absent from the British secondary school curriculum, a disconnect that echoes the declining uptake of GCSE and A-level music. 

By developing new teaching approaches rooted in electronic and Black-British music, EQUALIZE will support educators to diversify their practice, embrace emerging technologies, and respond more effectively to the cultural contexts of their students. The project will be piloted through summer schools, in-school workshops, and teacher training programmes, generating practical strategies that are both innovative and grounded in lived experience.