Sheffield Music Service shortlisted for three Music Mark Awards!

We’re delighted to share that Sheffield Music Service has been shortlisted for three Music Mark Awards!

The awards celebrate outstanding work across music education, and we’re incredibly proud to be recognised across three categories celebrating our people, inclusion and the voices of Sheffield’s young people.

The winners will be announced on Monday 16th November at the Music Mark Annual Conference in Liverpool.

Unsung Hero in Music Education Award

We’re especially proud that Kelly Dwyer has been shortlisted for the Unsung Hero in Music Education Award.

If you’ve been involved with Sheffield Music Service, there’s a good chance you’ve met Kelly! You might have seen her at one of our after-school music groups or concerts, or chatted to her on the phone about our groups.

Kelly organises our ensemble concerts alongside supporting our music groups and has spent more than a decade widening access to music education in Sheffield, particularly supporting families who face financial barriers or may otherwise find it difficult to access opportunities. She has championed inclusive provision, supported young people with their musical progression and helped ensure that young people’s voices are heard when decisions are made.

She’s warm, bubbly, always makes us laugh and is one of the biggest champions of our service. She also eats most of the biscuits in the office, but we’ll forgive her for that! 

We are so proud of Kelly. She really is a superstar! 

Talk into Action Inclusion Award

We also have been shortlisted for the Talk into Action Inclusion Award, recognising our work with care-experienced children and young people.

Since 2021, we’ve expanded access through personalised tuition, ensembles and workshops, reaching 100 looked-after children. By involving young people in decision-making, the programme has transformed provision and progression opportunities and it demonstrates how lived experience can drive meaningful, lasting change across music education.

This work is led by Heather Burge, our Music Hub Inclusion Lead, Deputy Safeguarding Lead and Trauma Informed Practitioner.

Heather is passionate about inclusion and spends part of her week coordinating our work for children in care, developing youth voice and working on our Communities of Practice. We know that children in care can face additional barriers to accessing opportunities, so this work is about making sure they are supported, listened to and able to experience everything music education can offer.

There’s also a good chance you’ve met Heather at one of our concerts too, as she’s the Ensemble Director of our Children’s Orchestra too! She does so much across our service and makes a real difference to the children and young people we work with. We think she’s fantastic and we’re super proud to have her as part of our team.

Youth Initiative of the Year Award

Our third nomination is for Youth Initiative of the Year, recognising Voice for Youth, our youth-led events for young people aged 14 to 18.

Voice for Youth gives young people a platform to share their views and tell us what they want from music education in Sheffield. The aim is simple: young people shouldn’t just take part in our activities, they should help shape them too.

And importantly, we’re not just asking young people what they think. We’re acting on what they tell us.

Ideas from young people have already helped us introduce:

• a Mentoring Scheme, connecting young musicians with experienced mentors
• our Work Experience Programme
• Student Roles at Learn to Play
• Young Producers at our Spring Gala Concert

And we can’t talk about Voice for Youth without mentioning Rory Evans! Rory works alongside Heather to drive the Voice for Youth project forward. You may recognise him as the Director of Sheffield Youth Big Band too. Rory is always smiling, brings so much positive energy and enthusiasm to what he does. Heather and Rory are working closely with our young people to develop the programme, turn their ideas into real opportunities and make sure their feedback leads to meaningful change.

We’re super proud of all of our staff and all the work they’re doing to help shape the future of music education in Sheffield.

To be shortlisted for three Music Mark Awards is something we’re incredibly proud of.

These nominations celebrate our brilliant people, our commitment to inclusion and most importantly, making sure children and young people have a real voice in shaping music education in Sheffield.

A huge well done to Kelly Dwyer, Heather Burge, Rory Evans and everyone involved in making this work happen.

We’ll be keeping everything crossed on the 16th November!