Melbourne Youth Orchestra

Melbourne Youth Orchestra offers an inclusive and stimulating range of artistic and social activities designed to instil a lifelong love for ensemble music playing in young people. Initiatives include an annual Ensemble Program, a week-long Summer School in January, as well as workshops, tours, and many performance opportunities in professional venues. These programs seek to create positive public awareness of youth, to increase youth involvement in music and more broadly an appreciation of the Arts in Victoria.

The Foundation has been involved with Melbourne Youth Orchestra for over a decade and enabled tertiary students to attend programs by subsidising transport costs. This funding was intended for tertiary students who were promising musicians but may have chosen to pursue studies other than music at university, enabling them to continue their involvement with music at a stage when motivation and opportunity are often lost.

Discussions with MYO throughout 2021-2022 revealed that the music education landscape had shifted, and their organisation was being used predominantly by secondary school students, due to more widespread accessibility of university ensemble offerings. The Foundation approached MYO with the idea of funding an expansion of their offerings, to include ensembles and mentorship that isn’t widely offered by mainstream schools and universities, such as improvisation, songwriting, and music production. However, MYO’s appetite for this was minimal, preferring to focus instead on orchestral music offerings for secondary school students. Nevertheless, the Foundation intends to further explore this concept in future years, and work to develop an initiative with a suitable partner that will address this area of need.