AT LAST !!

After what has, at times, seemed like a real uphill struggle, we have finally received confirmation of charity status! We are now registered charity no. 1122957, as of 26 February 2008.
Although there is no change to our “trading names” of Music for People or M4P, we have been obliged to change our legal company name to “Music for People (Summer School of Music)”, as there was already a London-based charity called Music for People. This will make no difference to our brand name, it just means that we have to ensure the legal name is on our official notepaper .
Charity status may not make an immediate difference to this year’s school, but we are hopeful that it will, in time, enable us to raise funds that will enable us to lower the cost of the summer school to students. It will also assist us in fundraising, as donors will now be able to apply “Gift Aid” to any donations – thus ensuring we receive maximum benefit from their generosity.
Of course like any new organisation, we need to ensure we have enough funding to put us on a firm footing so, if any of you have any ideas of potential sources of funding – eg. organisations that have bought instruments for your band, individuals who have funded courses for promising students etc – do please let us have contact details so that we can consider making an approach.
Watch this space for further information regarding charity status and any additional funding we may gain access to.

OPERA UPDATE

We have been reliably informed that the first draft of our new Opera “Brushwork” has now been completed.
The writing and composing team have given it a play/sing through and are really pleased with it, so it is all systems go now to get student applications in to enable parts to be cast. Don’t forget that this specially commissioned piece is going to involve Jazz and Percussion courses, as well as those enrolled for Opera, so we should end up with a really exciting production. There are quite a few parts, of various sizes, to be cast, so please encourage all your operatic friends to come along to the school this year and give it a go!

ENROLMENTS ETC

Despite the fact that we were unable to send out the brochure as early as we would have wished, we are really pleased to see that applications are coming in thick and fast; however, we want this first year of M4P to be an absolutely stonking success, so please tell all your musical friends about us and encourage them to apply. You can obtain extra copies of the brochure by emailing admin@m4p.org.uk or, of course, people can always look on the website at www.m4p.org.uk
It is a little bit scary just how quickly the money we put up to start up M4P is disappearing so, if anyone has any ideas for fundraising, or of organisations we could approach for grants and awards, please forward them to us via admin@m4p.org.uk

We want this newsletter to be useful and informative – and we want you to feel you can use it too. If you have any information you wish to publicise to other summer school students eg:
- you want to recruit members for a “self-organised group” at the school;
- you are seeking or offering a lift to the school;
- you have instruments or music for sale;
please forward a short note to Jennie Vaughan at jennie@m4p.org.uk or by snail mail -
299 Westerton Road,
Tingley,
Wakefield
WF3 1AE
for inclusion in the next issue.