Supporting people living with dementia through music
The Power of Music Fund
The Power of Music Fund was kicked off in early 2023 with 100 grants of £1000 to support dementia choirs and singing groups that were struggling to keep going due to rising costs. Later that year, the fund opened to a 2nd cohort of grantees, offering multi-year small grants to an additional 70 hyper local organisations delivering music activities for people living with dementia. These activities will benefit over 5500 people whilst championing innovators and best practice in the field, as well as focusing on areas of high need. These groups will form part of our national network for Music and Dementia and we will work with them over the course of the 3year fund to evaluate, grow and share learning with others.
Following an application process, the first Centre of Excellence for Music and Dementia was awarded £500,000 in April 2024 and will work with NASP until 2027 to boost research and create lasting change in the way the health system works with community groups to ensure that many more people living with dementia can benefit in the long term.
By building bridges between the health and social care system and community groups, we can help to take pressure off health and care services and ensure that more people are able to live well with dementia. Through strategic shared investment – drawing on both grassroots and corporate expertise – we intend to create financially stable, easily accessible music for dementia groups for years to come.
The first Centre of Excellence is a partnership led by Manchester Camerata working with the Greater Manchester NHS, The Alzheimer's Society, The University of Manchester, GM Combined Authority and a range of other local VCSE sector partners. It will test new approaches to embedding music as part of dementia care, gather evidence of cost savings for the NHS and local authority, and design new models of care which can be scaled up and spread across the UK.
In Autumn 2024, NASP will open to applications for the establishment of a new Centre of Excellence for Training in Music and Dementia. Supported by the Rayne Foundation, this new Centre will focus on enhancing the health and social care workforce's ability to integrate music into dementia care.
The Power of Music Fund is being managed by the National Academy for Social Prescribing and was kickstarted by a £1 million donation from The Utley Foundation. It aims to bring together support from a range of sources to raise a total of £5 million – including Government bodies, philanthropists, trusts and foundations, businesses, individual donors. Currently supported by The Utley Foundation, Arts Council England, The Rayne Foundation, Music for All and other donors, including members of the public, we continue to bring on board new investors to grow the fund.
This shared investment model is a realistic and practical way of funding community-based social prescribing activities, so that people who would benefit from non-medical support can be referred to it.
The Power of Music Fund has grown from the Paul and Nick Harvey Fund in 2021, through which we worked jointly with Music for Dementia and The Utley Foundation, and a donation from the Hunter Foundation, to issue grants to 36 music and dementia projects around the UK.
Applications for first round of funding have now closed. Please sign up to our Power of Music mailing list to hear out about future rounds, updates and ways to get involved.
What are the aims of the fund for NASP?
Through the Small Grants we will:
- Deliver funds to grassroots projects as part of social prescribing, especially in parts of the country where the needs are greatest, to cover basic costs such as room hire and travel.
- Provide support for people living with dementia and their families, improving their physical and mental wellbeing and creating moments of joy and connection through music.
- Connect the work of grassroots groups to the health system, improving access to activities and strengthening community connection.
- Support grantees beyond just funding, through integration to healthcare, training, peer support, resources, development opportunities, and evaluation.
Through the Centres of Excellence, we will:
- Create a robust and transferable business case, with economic analysis, to enable local health systems to invest in new models of community support for dementia utilising music and maximising local community assets at a place-based level.
- See a step change in the approach taken by the new NHS Integrated Care Partnerships in their approach to dementia; a scalable model to embed music as a fundamental element in key care pathways including community provision and support at primary care. To achieve clarity on the risks, challenges, critical success factors and opportunities, especially cost savings.
- Foster effective collaboration at local system/ place level between community assets supporting people with dementia, NHS dementia and primary care, and Integrated Care Partnerships (which include universities, social care, and other relevant partners) to drive improvements in care and support for people with dementia building on the Power of Music.
The Rainbow Foundation
Playlist for Life: personal music for dementia
A personalised playlist is a low-cost and unique tool which can bring joy and highlight the ‘me’ in dementia. From managing symptoms of dementia to strengthening connections with family and carers, a playlist has so many benefits.
Hear from guest speakers at the Power of Music launch event
This event was hosted to celebrate the launch of the Power of Music Fund in November 2023, where we heard from our partners and funders as well as MP John Whittingdale.
