Carers Music Fund
On June 23rd 2021, Spirit of 2012 hosted a virtual summit to share practical guidance on how to design and implement music programmes which improve wellbeing and reduce loneliness for unpaid female carers
Carers’ Music Fund
Providing opportunities for creative expression through music making for women and girls with caring responsibilities.
The project in numbers
£1.9 Million
Project spend
August 2019 – June 2021
Project duration
Various
Grantee organisation
Most carers in the UK are women, and women make up 72% of those in receipt of the Carers Living Allowance. The Carers’ Music Fund put women and girls with caring responsibilities front and centre, providing opportunities for fun, creative expression and self (re)-discovery through music making.
The Carers’ Music Fund was made possible by funding that Spirit of 2012 received from the Tampon Tax Fund, awarded through the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The Tampon Tax Fund was set up to allocate the money generated from the VAT on sanitary products to projects that improve the lives of disadvantaged women and girls. Spirit was awarded £1.5 million from the fund in March 2019. Spirit topped up the funding with an additional £400,000 to create an access pot to fund activities that support the people being ‘cared for’ (of any gender) and provide flexible ways of breaking down barriers to engagement.
This included paying for alternative care or funding taxis so that carers spend less time travelling to and from sessions. Spirit’s access pot aimed to increase the accessibility of the projects by providing person-centred support that was flexible to participants’ circumstances.
Project aims
- Give female carers the opportunity for creative expression through music-making.
- Examine the effect of participatory music projects on the wellbeing of carers.
Impact
Case Study – Person X
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I was feeling very isolated because of the COVID situation. Lots of people want to help you, but you don’t always know what to say to them. It’s hard to ask for the right sort of help. But the music sessions were just what I needed.
Carers’ Music Fund participant
13%
Average happiness increase amongst those who participated in Carers’ Music Fund
925
Participants
13%
Average life satisfaction increase
10%
Average increase in feeling worthwhile