Open Up Music

Who we are

Young disabled people, unfortunately, are for the most part excluded from ensemble music making, in schools and music groups. So not many play, become music professionals, orchestral players, composers... Since 2007, our award-winning programmes have created new opportunities for them to be musicians, making their own music, not just listening to the music of others:

Open Orchestras helps special schools set up accessible orchestras, so that hundreds of young disabled people get first access to music education every year.

The National Open Youth Orchestra (NOYO) is the world’s first disabled-led national youth orchestra. It pioneers an inclusive orchestra model where talented 11-25 year-old disabled and non-disabled musicians rehearse and perform together.

We’ve also developed the Clarion. Available on iPad and PC, it’s an innovative accessible instrument that can be played expressively with any part of the body, including eye movement. We currently offer it through our programmes.

Our culture and values

Our values guide the way we work. They act as a reminder of what matters to us as an organisation.

We revisited them in 2020, in consultation with young musicians, our staff team and trustees.

They are:

Influence - We work alongside young disabled musicians to challenge preconceptions and influence change

Diversity - We bring about greater diversity by driving musical inclusion and disabled representation

Creativity - We engage audiences through exciting music, made and shared in creative ways

Community - We support communities of individuals and organisations to make positive change happen

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the heart of who we are. We take our responsibility to acknowledge, challenge and dismantle barriers within music and our organisation extremely seriously. To that end, we are especially interested in receiving applications from Disabled people.

We also recognise that systems of privilege, structural disadvantage and barriers to participation often intersect with one another. For this reason, we particularly welcome applications from people from other structurally disadvantaged backgrounds and underrepresented groups. This may include people from the Global Majority, migrants, refugees, LGBTQIA+ people and/or people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.