The Scottish Brass Band Association has received a huge vote of confidence ahead of the Scottish Open and Scottish Youth Championships this weekend in Perth, with a ringing endorsement of its development work from Scottish Government Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop.

Doubling

With the number of brass bands almost doubling over the past five years from around 74 to over 130 due to the financial support of the Scottish Government’s highly acclaimed Youth Music Initiative (YMI), the funding of SBBA’s Youth Development Programme has resulted in the creation of 55 new youth brass bands with places for an additional 1,700 young musicians.

It has also led to the Scottish Youth Brass Band Championships now being recognised as the biggest youth brass band event in the world.

Nation's heritage

Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop, who is due to visit the Championships in Perth this weekend stated: "Brass bands are part of our nation’s musical heritage but have suffered a significant reduction since the 1960s with the decline in traditional industries.

Brass band playing in Scotland is now thriving, thanks to the excellent work of the Scottish Brass Band Association’s world-leading Youth Development Programme which is funded by the Youth Music Initiative."

Creating opportunities

She added: "The YMI is all about creating opportunities for young people to get involved in music – and the Scottish Brass Band Association has given an additional 1,700 young brass and percussion players the opportunity to play regularly in ensembles in every corner of Scotland. Today’s national network of brass bands also means these young musicians can continue to play throughout their lives.

Thanks to this dramatic revival, the Scottish Youth Festival of Brass has grown to become the biggest youth brass band event in the world.

It is due to successes like this that I have protected funding for the Youth Music Initiative at £10 million a year."

Brass band playing in Scotland is now thriving, thanks to the excellent work of the Scottish Brass Band Association’s world-leading Youth Development ProgrammeCulture Secretary Fiona Hyslop

Cost effective

In response George Burt, President of the Scottish Brass Band Association, said: "We are very grateful for the support from YMI over the past five years, which has enabled us to deliver a very cost effective development programme, enabling young people to play in ensembles and progress seamlessly through stages of excellence that will give them a musical experience for the rest of their lives.

Scotland is the envy of the world for what we have been able to achieve."

Costs

The Youth Music Initiative is delivered by Creative Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government currently has a funding commitment for YMI until March 2013 and a further £10 million was included in the draft budget for 2013-14:

It was revealed that the Scottish Brass Band Association’s Youth Development Programme has received YMI funding of £241,400 from 2007-2012, whilst SBBA has been awarded £89,700 YMI funding this financial year. SBBA contributes an additional 25% from its own funds.