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News & Views
Coronavirus (COVID-19) information
Date posted: 18 March 2020

We are operating under unprecedented circumstances, with a lot of uncertainty and the Sound Sense team and board are aware that this is impacting on the work of our members.

Our aim is to do what we can to support you in whatever way we can, so that when we come out the other side of this, we will continue to be a strong, functioning community of musicians.

This is a challenging time for all of us, but it is also a time of being creative, of connecting with others and of thinking outside of the box. The Sound Sense team will do our best to share the inventive ways our members find to deliver work during this time and to connect people up as best we can.

Sound Sense member Jaimee Jensen-McDaniel has set up the group Community Music in the time of Covid-19 to connect our community and share positivity and new ways of working. If you are a Facebook user, we encourage you to join this group and start connecting.

Our monthly Bulletin Board newsletter will continue as usual and we will continue to source useful information and links for you, using this medium. Please also check our Twitter account and this page on our website regularly for the latest news. If you have any online events or resources you would like us to share with the rest of the community, please email us.

Our public liability insurance continues to cover Individual Members for all their community music, music teaching and music therapy activities including delivery of sessions via online platforms. New, personalised certificates that specifically refer to online delivery are now available for download soon in the Members Area.

Sound Sense's DBS Check service also continues to operate during the coronavirus outbreak. However all DBS applications will be now be completed using a fully online process which includes uploading your identity documents to our website DBS platform.

 

UK Government support for charities and social enterprises

The National Lottery Community Fund has announced that the Government’s new Coronavirus Community Support Fund will open for applications at 10am on Friday 22 May. This new funding stream makes available £200m in Government funding that will be aimed primarily at small to medium organisations in England. The Fund has two key objectives:

  1. To increase community support to vulnerable people affected by the COVID-19 crisis, through the work of civil society organisations.
  2. To reduce temporary closures of essential charities and social enterprises, ensuring services for vulnerable people impacted by COVID-19 have the financial resources to operate, and so reduce the burden on public services

Find full details at:

tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/news

Separate funding has been allocated for charities in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. You can find information about the whole package of UK Government support at:

gov.uk/guidance

 

Help Musicians

Help Musicians has launched a dedicated web site page has been created to be a central source of support and advice for all musicians during the coronavirus period:

coronamusicians.info

And you can access the latest Help Musicians funding opportunities here:

helpmusicians.org.uk/creative-programme/current-opportunities

 

Sound Connections

Sound Sense member Sound Connections has programmed an exciting range of online events in response to current needs:

sound-connections.org.uk/events

Plus we recommend checking out Sound Connections' extensive online resource library for some lockdown CPD:

sound-connections.org.uk/resources

 

Musicians' Union

Our colleagues at the Musicians’ Union have set up a dedicated coronavirus information page, including the option to sign up for email updates. You don’t need to be an MU member to access this information and support:

musiciansunion.org.uk/coronavirus

 

Arts Professional

The online magazine Arts Professional has removed its subscription paywall for all Covid-19 related news, resources and content to support arts workers.

artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/covidculture

 

NYMAZ Remote Music Learning Network

Sound Sense member NYMAZ has pioneered remote music learning with its Connect: Resound programme. Join the NYMAZ Remote Music Learning Network free of charge to access a range of resources, including webinar on key skills and safeguarding for teaching music online:

nymaz.org.uk/for-professionals/remote

 

Facebook

Practitioners across the creative industries are facing the same issues. Here are three groups sharing useful information relevant to our membership.

Community Music in the time of COVID-19

UK Theatre Industry Coronavirus Support

Covid-19 Outdoor Arts Information, Questions & Advice Forum