Live Music Now Scotland Announce Groundbreaking Creative Learning Initiative

Live Music Now Scotland has announced a groundbreaking creative learning initiative in partnership with South Ayrshire Council's Creative Learning Network, thanks to generous funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation's Teacher Development Fund.

One of only six projects to be chosen from across the UK, LMNS has placed four musicians in five additional support needs schools and units in South Ayrshire and East Ayrshire, to work collaboratively with teachers and senior leadership teams to identify ways to teach the curriculum creatively through the medium of music.

LMNS musicians Emma Martin (singer/songwriter), Sophie Rocks (harpist), Sally Simpson (fiddle player) and Neil Sutcliffe (accordionist) have been working closely with teachers from Dalmilling School and Doonfoot Primary School in Ayr; Hillside School in Cumnock; and Invergarven School and Girvan Primary School in Girvan. The musicians will make 40 visits over the two years, collectively delivering 720 workshops.

The project is a combination of training created in response to the teachers and musicians' needs and music delivery through collaborative learning. Live Music Now Scotland will be working with an external evaluator in order to establish the efficacy and impact of the project. The hope is that, in the long-term, similar initiatives can be rolled out more widely and help encourage further investigation into the benefit of this model of artists and teachers working and learning together and the impact that teaching the curriculum through the arts subsequently has on improving communication and language skills, and aiding overall learning in an additional support needs setting.

Lesley-Ann Smith, General Manager at Live Music Now Scotland, said: "This exciting project has so much potential. From the invaluable learning that our musicians and teachers are undertaking, what LMNS and South Ayrshire will learn from the evaluation, and the difference it could make for existing and future students in these schools. We are very lucky not only to have four musicians that are committed, passionate and reflective about this project but also five schools that have approached this project with an admirable openness, enthusiasm and creativity."

Carol Main MBE, Director at Live Music Now Scotland, said: "We are delighted to announce this project in collaboration with South Ayrshire Council's Creative Learning Network and we are incredibly grateful to the Paul Hamlyn Foundation's Teacher Development Fund for their generous support, which has allowed it all to happen.

"Our musicians have worked with young people with additional support needs for many years and we are in no doubt that music has a hugely positive impact on their wellbeing and, over extended periods, their ability to communicate and engage. We are so excited to be in a position now, thanks to this initiative, to be able to qualify this knowledge with further learning and insights."