• You’re aged between 7 and 17 years old
• You’ve been living in the UK for three years or more

If you’ve lived in the UK for fewer than three years, one of these must apply:

• Resident in the British Islands for 3 years
• EEA/Swiss national (child of migrant worker)
• Refugee or child of a refugee

You’re an instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, producer or singer/songwriter of an intermediate to advanced level.

Your family are on a lower income

• You're eligible if the total income of any parents/carers in your home is less than £34,000 a year.
• You may be eligible if it's between £34,000 - £40,000 a year, depending on the number of dependents living in your household.
• It's unlikely you'll be eligible if it's above £40,000 a year.

Our key criteria are musical commitment and financial need, meaning that young musicians can apply without needing to have taken any formal exams.

The Thrive programme is designed to support young musicians at intermediate and advanced levels, so we do expect you to have been learning for at least a year.

We support all genres and styles of music equally, with a diverse range of external adjudicators who make decisions on eligibility for the Thrive programme.

We’re unable to support beginner level musicians or young people who are already part of our Connect programme.

If you're still unsure after reading this, then complete Stage 1 of the application form and we'll let you know!

You can apply anytime. We have three awarding rounds a year:

• Winter
• Late spring
• Autumn

If you’re successful, you’ll be on the Thrive programme for 12 months, after which point you can reapply if you’re still eligible.

If you’re not offered a place on the Thrive programme this time, you’ll be able to reapply after 12 months.

The Thrive team will need to review your answers before letting you know if you’re eligible to apply.

Sometimes this can take a few days.

You don't need to apply for a specific cost. If successful, you’ll be offered an award for an amount between £250 - £3,000.

If we offer you a place on the Thrive programme you can then decide how to spend your funding.

You may also be offered musical opportunities as part of your year on the programme.

Unfortunately, you aren’t able to use your funding for:

• Reimbursing items or other musical costs that have already been paid for
• Costs involving an international transfer of money or purchases from overseas that may incur additional import duties, taxes or charges
• Academic school fees
• Higher education fees
• School orchestra and choir tours, plus some other courses and foreign school trips
• Music therapy

If you're unsure whether we could fund what you need, then contact us for advice.

We’ll pay for approved musical items or costs directly to the supplier, teacher or organisation.

We’ll explain how this works if you’re offered a place on the Thrive programme.

We’re here to support your love of music whether you’re aiming for a career in the industry or simply love to be part of a community of like-minded musicians.

Yes, it's important that an adult does support you.

An appropriate adult will need to sign your application to vouch that you are eligible for the programme, in line with our financial eligibility criteria.

This could be a parent or guardian, another family member (over 18), a teacher, social worker, or another trusted adult.

We understand that young people with additional needs may need more support, and that’s absolutely fine.

We want the application to reflect the young musician’s experiences, interests and aspirations as much as possible.