The future of a Hackney-based music programme for children and young people with special educational needs has been secured – thanks to new funding.
The Music Treehouse programme, run for more than eight years by award-winning music education charity HMDT Music, was on a ‘knife edge’ as its previous funding ran out.
Now, the scheme is safe for the next five years, thanks to a £185,810 grant from City Bridge Foundation – the owner of Tower Bridge and London’s biggest independent charity funder.
Paul Martinelli, City Bridge Foundation chair, said:
“Music Treehouse has had a hugely positive impact and means so much to all the young people who attend – and their families.
“We’re really pleased that our funding means the programme can continue to harness the power of music to bring creativity and happiness to their lives.”
Music Treehouse, which runs on Saturdays at Bridge Academy, in Hackney, offers creative music sessions for children and young people aged two to 25 with a wide spectrum of severe, profound and complex needs.
Participants, who come from across north and east London, boost their self-esteem, communication and skills through improvised group and one-to-one music sessions.
Tertia Sefton-Green, CEO of HMDT Music, said:
“Music Treehouse is a very happy place with an enormous amount of joy. It’s a really important part of the week for young people, and we see a big increase in their confidence as well as their musical skills.
“One girl who’s been with us since the start was very shy and hardly spoke at all, but now she can get up and talk to audiences about what she’s been doing and sing on her own.
“We’ve been on a knife-edge and at one point were in danger of not being able to continue with Treehouse, which would have been heartbreaking, so this funding is life-changing for us.”
