Few pursuits are as dynamic and enjoyable as making music. Each day, thousands of people in the UK engage in some sort of musical activity. Central to these endeavours is good health. Physical and mental wellbeing can shape how musicians, from beginners to professionals, pursue their art and the pleasure they take from it. The results of recent research, however, suggest that injury and ill health are widespread among musicians and that healthy approaches to training and working in music are far from uniform. This project investigates the health and wellbeing of musicians. In doing so, it generates new knowledge of the physical and mental demands of music making and sheds light on the ways in which musicians at all levels meet those demands, both constructively and destructively. While musicians typically have a long history of self-sufficiency in managing the challenges of performing, this project aims to complement musicians' own ingenuity by providing comprehensive, evidence-led resources to help maximise educational and professional opportunities. Musical Impact is a project of Conservatoires UK (CUK), in association with Cardiff University, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Association of British Orchestras (ABO), British Association for Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM), the Musicians' Union, and the International Health Humanities Network (IHHN). Musical Impact operates through three interrelated work packages (WPs). WP1 comprises a four-year study of musicians' physical and mental fitness for performance. While previous research has largely looked at cross-sections of musicians, WP1 takes the form of a large-scale longitudinal study with conservatoire students, staff and alumni, seeking to understand the incidence, extent and development of injuries and ill-health among British musicians. WP1 employs standardized measures of health promotion, anxiety, perfectionism, cardiovascular fitness and physical strength and flexibility, complemented by qualitative exploration of the cultures of musicians' health. WP2 places practice and performance under investigation, documenting their physical and mental demands and the characteristics of musicians who successfully meet those demands. Physiological and biomechanical assessments will be made during the practice and performance of musicians, including the recording and analysis of muscle activity using electromyography and the monitoring of energy expenditure with portable gas analysers. WP3 builds upon WPs 1 and 2, exploring health promotion in music education and the profession and exploring practical applications to enhance training and support services. WP3 includes the development of two programmes of health promotion: one for junior conservatoire students and one for senior conservatoire students. These programmes will be piloted and evaluated through case studies, a questionnaire survey and interviews, before being delivered in full at junior- and senior-programmes across all CUK conservatoires. Musical Impact is the largest research initiative of its kind worldwide. It moves beyond existing research to contribute needed insight into chronic and acute health problems and their impact over time (WP1), the physical and mental demands of music making (WP2), and effective strategies for health promotion (WP3). The project's outcomes will be delivered through a combination of scholarly outputs (including an edited book), six workshops held for music teachers and students, and two freely-available resource packs.

The UK's arts & cultural sector is thriving: it contributes 674,000 jobs and £11.8bn per annum to the economy and remains one of its fastest growing sectors (DCMS, 2018). Yet despite this strong economic performance and its world-leading reputation for quality, the sector consistently fails to comprehend, capture and convey its values in a compelling way. This is partly because it suffers from structural problems including a lack of diversity, skills gaps (especially in data analysis & digital engagement), poor research & evaluation skills, and significant under-investment in training and R&D. These issues hinder its innovation and resilience and compromise its ability to make a coherent and compelling case for investment to key stakeholders, including private donors, corporate sponsors and HM Treasury, and to cognate sectors such as health & education. So we will dedicate resources to training/developing sector practitioners and students (FE/HE/PGR) in key areas of need including data analysis, audience/participant research, research-driven evaluation and storytelling. This proposal has been conceived by a genuinely national consortium comprising world-leading universities & sector partners. These partnerships will enable the Centre to quickly tap into existing networks and gain ready access to different types & sizes of arts/cultural organisations from all over the UK. The Centre will be delivered in a collaborative way that draws on the complementary expertise of its core & affiliate members and harnesses this in a strategic way to maximise the potential of its activities. Based partly on the findings of the Cultural Value Project, the Centre's priority themes will comprise: diversity & inequality, public impact, health & wellbeing, place-making, culture-led regeneration, civic engagement, cultural democracy, co-creation & participation. These themes will be prioritized in our calls for £200k seed funding and reflected in our events. The aim of the events is to stimulate fresh thinking on key themes related to cultural value & engagement and communicate this beyond the sector. The Centre will deliver the following 20 knowledge exchange events over 5 years: 1. Scoping Event 1 (Creative workshop, Opera North/DARE, Leeds) 2. Scoping Event 2 (Open Space event, British Library, London) 3. Launch (Leeds Town Hall) 4. Arts impact evaluation (Creative workshop, U. of Liverpool) 5. Cultural & economic value (Symposium, Cardiff University) 6. Arts, wellbeing & health policy (Colloquium, U. of Leeds) 7. Cultures of participation & co-production (Creative workshop, QMU, Edinburgh) 8. Diversity Forum (Coventry 2021) 9. Audience research & empirical aesthetics (Participatory Action Research event, UCL) 10. Cultures of fandom (Symposium, U. of Bristol) 11. Creative industries, innovation & the creative economy (Symposium, U. of York) 12. Place-making, culture-led regeneration & evaluation (Symposium, U. of Hull) 13. Barriers to cultural engagement (Open Space event, U. of Sheffield) 14. Arts & education policy (Creative workshop, National Theatre/British Library, London) 15. Processes of cultural value (Creative workshop, Eden Court/U. of Highlands & Islands, Inverness) 16. Cultural taste & class (Symposium, U. of Warwick) 17. Arts and conflict resolution (Symposium, Queens University Belfast) 18. Festival & storytelling symposium (Opera North/Leeds 2023, Leeds) 19. Conference on Cultural Value and Engagement (UoL) 20. Evaluation & legacy planning roundtable (UoL) These events will be supported by our website, which will encourage and facilitate engagement & debate between and beyond the events. Outcomes will be captured via regular research digests & blogs. In order to remain open to stakeholders' input and responsive to emerging issues, the Centre will earmark additional funding to support & partner fringe events that arise during the scoping events and over the lifecycle of the Centre.