Institutional Context
Summary
The Royal College of Music (RCM) provides music education and professional training at the highest international level to over 900 students from more than 50 countries. As a specialist conservatoire, the institution’s teaching and research strengths include performance, composition, composition for screen, conducting, music education, performance science, and arts in health. Through a commitment to the transformative power of music and its own founding principles of excellence, advocacy and access, the RCM is engaged in sharing its musical expertise with beneficiaries at local, national, and international levels. RCM was ranked as the global top institution for performing arts in the 2022 QS World University Rankings by Subject.
Institutional context
As a world-leading institution with a civic mission, the RCM aims to be a relevant and persuasive advocate for music locally, nationally, and globally. An outward-facing ethos is core to all areas of the RCM’s work, building on our founding principles of access and excellence. The RCM has a vision to be an institution whose work changes lives – through performance, research, community initiatives and global collaboration.
Image courtesy of Sparks
The RCM is a specialist HEI with teaching and research expertise in performance, composition, composition for screen, musicology, music education, performance science, and arts and health. Our current student population totals 923, of whom 52% are undergraduates, 43% are postgraduate taught (Masters or ArtDip), and 5% are doctoral students. The RCM student body is highly international, with 52% international students from 50 different countries. The College also runs a Junior Department which provides training for 300 talented young musicians aged 8-18 on Saturdays. A thriving programme of Learning and Participation activities provides musical opportunities for over 750 local children each year.
Public performance is core to the College’s work and there are over 500 public events each year at the College, as well as many events in external venues and in collaboration with industry partners. During the pandemic the number of in-person concerts contracted, but it was during this period that the College was able to mobilise its digital expertise in livestreaming, reaching global audiences through digital channels. A significant expansion and re-development of the RCM estates completed in 2020 has provided two new performance venues, a new RCM Museum, cutting-edge research facilities, and a cafe. With many of these facilities open to the public, the RCM is now a cultural destination in ‘Albertopolis’ alongside its neighbours which include the V&A Museum and the Science Museum. The RCM’s location in this vibrant cultural quarter of London has enabled interdisciplinary collaborations with organisations such as Imperial College, the Royal College of Art, and the Royal Albert Hall.
The RCM is embedded in the local and national cultural ecology through strong research networks and industry/employer partnerships. Synergies with the profession are further reinforced through the institution’s 300+ visiting professors who are active professionals in the music industry. The RCM’s rates of progression to employment and further study on completion of the undergraduate programme exceed the national average. The RCM was the most highly ranked UK conservatoire offering music as a single subject in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework, scoring highly on our overall research environment and the impact of our research.
Following participation in the Knowledge Exchange Concordat in 2021, the RCM is now engaged in a programme of KE development that recognises the institution’s wide range of activities and strengths in public engagement while clarifying shared civic purpose across the institution. The refreshed Strategic Plan (2022) affirms the continuing importance of pre-tertiary provision and community engagement in the RCM’s KE work, and identifies new commercial opportunities arising from our new facilities that build upon existing partnerships with the cultural and corporate sectors.
For further information, please send queries to research@rcm.ac.uk
Local Growth and Regeneration
Summary of approach
RCM’s civic mission is to use music as a force for good, generating social, economic, and cultural benefit at local, national and international levels.
Based in the Borough of Kensington & Chelsea our local reach extends to Westminster City Council and Hammersmith & Fulham through our Tri-Borough Music Hub partnership. Social inclusion is developed through Sparks, our programme for local children; public access to our world-leading artistic programme of over 500 events per year; our newly redeveloped estate and Museum, and through research and KE projects focussing on music and health.
Our Creative Careers Centre’s entrepreneurship programme equips our students with the skills needed for today’s music industry, whilst innovation projects such as MedTech SuperConnector maximise the KE potential of our staff and students.
Aspect 1: Strategy
At the highest institutional level, RCM’s Vision Statement – 2027 (refreshed 2021) articulates the College’s mission to provide ‘music education and professional training at the highest international level, through commitment to the transformative power of music and its own founding principles of excellence, advocacy and access…It fulfils its obligation as a relevant, persuasive and world-leading advocate for the future of music, as an agent for positive and meaningful cultural change.’
This overarching mission directly informs the College’s strategic objectives for KE, set out in the College’s Research & KE Strategy (updated 2020), the College’s Learning Teaching and Assessment Strategy (2019-2024), and the RCM’s Strategic Plan (2017-27), which prioritise collaboration and exchange across teaching, research and artistic activities. Our success is reflected in our ranking as the global No. 1 institution for performing arts in the 2022 QS World University Rankings.
National regeneration is facilitated through programmes such as the Creative Careers Centre’s skills development and entrepreneurship training for RCM students, and the Centre for Performance Science’s MedTech SuperConnector project which fosters the commercialisation of research.
International collaborations include: Chinese regional music schools through the Kingdom Music Education Group (KMEG); a collaboration with tech start-up ‘Forte Lessons’ to deliver high-quality online instrumental lessons around the globe; digital initiatives such as the Global Conservatoire’s “global classroom”; and training courses for United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) leaders across the world. Our research has global reach, including collaborative regenerative projects in developing ODA countries such as Brazil and Bolivia.
Strategically relevant local areas to our London campus are the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham and the City of Westminster. Despite an economy ranking among the top 10% in the UK Prosperity Index, RBKC is highly unequal, containing some of the most deprived communities in the country; one in four children lived in poverty in 2019/20 and the borough has the highest permanent exclusion rate in London (report commissioned in 2021 by The Kensington + Chelsea Foundation).
The RCM’s 2021 KE Concordat Action Plan lays out four KE aims:
1. Connecting in meaningful and sustainable ways with more diverse audiences and learners
Our Access & Participation Plan 2020-21 to 2024-25 and Strategic Plan 2017-27 aim to reduce the under-representation within conservatoire education (and consequently in the wider music profession) of applicants and students from the lowest socio-economic groups and ethnically diverse backgrounds in conservatoire education. Across the UK access to classical music and music lessons is heavily influenced by household income, whilst music provision in state schools is declining; the Arts Council’s 2022 ‘Creating a More Inclusive Classical Music’ report suggests ‘that elite training opportunities for those learning symphonic classical music instruments are very unevenly distributed across different socioeconomic groups.’
Recognising the length of time needed to reach conservatoire entry requirements, pre-tertiary provision and PC&E are integrated into our programmes and ethos through RCM’s Sparks outreach programme, Junior Department activities, and partnership with access organisation IntoUniversity.
2. Developing the College’s role as a vibrant cultural hub that has a positive impact on its local community
RCM is a member of Discover South Kensington (trading name of the Exhibition Road Cultural Group), a partnership of the area’s leading cultural and educational organisations, which states: ‘London’s home of arts and science is one of the world’s most popular cultural destinations and home to an extraordinary cluster of world-leading organisations pioneering innovation and learning in science and the arts and welcomes over 20 million visitors each year.’
Our learning and participation programme RCM Sparks is a strategic partner of the Tri-Borough Music Hub, (TBMH), positioning us at the heart of local music delivery through partnerships with primary, secondary schools and other arts organisations. Sparks strategically leads on access to music, prioritising SEND and widening participation for children from underrepresented groups and delivering projects with socio-cultural benefits for the local community. See further details in the PC&E template.
Tri-borough area source KCW Today
The environmental impact of the College is subject to continuous improvements and assessment; a new Carbon Management Plan was approved in October 2021, including a carbon net zero target to be achieved by 2035 as part of the 2020 Environment Action Plan.
3. Providing sector-leading employability opportunities for our students
Our Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy states that our programmes ‘foster an entrepreneurial mindset by embedding career development training opportunities in the formal curriculum …Furthermore, we connect our programmes with RCM’s Research and KE expertise, enabling students at all levels to engage with and learn from cutting-edge research, active researchers, and professional insights.’
The Creative Careers Centre (CCC) bridges the gap between student and professional life, helping them adapt to the parameters of an increasingly competitive and complex music industry. Musicians discover their own identity, gain hands-on experience, new skills and an entrepreneurial mind-set through partnerships with industry and community organisations, and visiting professionals.
RCM violinist performing at the Royal Academy of ArtsFest courtesy CCC
4. Maximising the KE potential of our staff community
A core aim of the College’s Research and KE Strategy is maximising ‘the beneficial impact of RCM research for the wider public good’, and harnessing and exploiting ‘the potential of the RCM’s communities of musicians, educators, production professionals, public artistic programme, outreach work, etc. and its physical and digital resources.’
The Strategy acknowledges the need for ‘clear policies on the types of KE that we undertake working with staff, students, collaborators and beneficiaries so that KE policies are understood and operationalised.’ We also commit to supporting ‘Category A staff to solicit and undertake relevant professional external consultancy work on a commercial basis, contracted through the RCM Research Office.’
The College recognises its civic mission as an advocate for music throughout the UK and beyond; we are actively lobbying government to address the national decline of school music provision, contributing to the Model Music Curriculum (p100) in 2021, and through membership of Conservatoires UK, MusicHE and the ABRSM.
Aspect 2: Activity
Aligning with our KE Concordat strategic goals, our activities over the KEF period include:
1. Connecting with more diverse audiences and learners
Sparks with TMBH deliver live music experiences for children from local schools, specialist weekly early-years classes for under-fives, workshops for children, young people and families, and training and experience in music education for RCM students. Practitioners from the London Early Years Foundation (LEYF) nurseries were given CPD training as Early Years ‘Music Champions’ in 2022 to enrich music in their nursery settings for children aged 0-4 as demonstrated in this short KE film.
Sparks also co-ordinates the Musically Inclusive Forum bringing nationally and internationally renowned music and arts organisations together to improve access and outcomes for young disabled people across the music and arts sector.
An EDI Matching Fund for Scholarships and Bursaries was established in March 2021 to enable talented students from diverse backgrounds to access a world-class musical education, with consequent positive impact on the classical music industry. Fundraising is predicted to reach £200,000 by the end of December 2022.
2. Developing the College’s role as a vibrant cultural hub that has a positive impact on its local community
Details about our programme of performances and events are included in the PC&E template.
Results from the Act Green survey showed 77% of cultural audiences agree that cultural organisations have a responsibility to influence society to address the climate emergency. In 2021, as a member of the Exhibition Road Cultural Group (ERCG) we joined South Ken ZEN+, a new, cross-institutional initiative which aims to ‘make a transformational improvement across the cultural district so that everyone who visits, works, studies and lives here can see and feel the benefit.’
Following e-learning for staff and students in 2021, in January 2022 we hosted our first ‘Green Week’, with opportunities to learn about how to make a positive impact on the future of the planet through music-making and lifestyle choices. The Green Week YouTube video includes highlights such as the ‘Treephonia’ project, with Composition students writing pieces in response to trees in Kensington Gardens.
The completion of the ambitious £40m More Music development in 2020 addressed our estate’s infrastructure and access issues. A £4.9million Heritage Lottery grant underpinned the redevelopment of the RCM Museum - one of the largest ever such investments in a UK music museum.
Courtyard Project plans courtesy of RCM Estates
New performance spaces, a cafe and social areas in the Grade II listed Blomfield Building and an expanded campus on Jay Mews have opened, including the RCM’s original Victorian concert hall. The need for live music performance venues was highlighted in the This Is Music 2022 - UK Music report, especially given the impact of Covid on the music industry. A new commercial Hires page was added to the RCM website in 2021, consolidating our external facilities offer of Venues, Studios, Musicians and Teachers.
Providing sector-leading employability opportunities for our students
The Creative Careers Centre (CCC) provides a ‘Real World Ready’ careers programme, including a Creative Enterprise and Innovation module giving students practical support in developing career skills to create viable business ideas. CCC also runs the RCM Teaching Service, matching tuition requests with student and recent graduate teachers. Instrumental, vocal, composition, and theory teaching is available for adults and children living in London.
Initiated in 2021, the RCM Accelerate scheme helps graduating students launch their careers through start-up funding for their new creative project, social enterprise or existing business idea, with up to five years of ongoing mentoring support. The first cohort responded to issues such as violence towards women, access to/participation in classical music and the environment. For instance, The 97% Ensemble was formed as a response to the discovery that 97% of women aged 18-24 have been sexually harassed, as can be seen in this short KE film.
Maximising the KE potential of our staff community
A new RCM Intellectual Property Policy was launched in June 2022, governing the ownership and management of College IP along with the College’s discretionary reward sharing schemes and the management of third-party IP. The policy gives clear guidance about how IP generated by staff and students will be managed and recorded.
Our internal research and KE funds are available to research, hourly paid and professional services staff to stimulate innovation and impact with external collaborators and end users.
For example, the ‘Women in Research and KE Leadership’ strand of our 2021-22 Enhancing Research Culture Fund (ERC) sought to address the low representation of women in RCM RKE leadership roles, and the disproportionate impact of Covid disruption on women's careers. The ERC also supported Musical Care International Network, inaugurated in 2022 to bring together practitioners and researchers from around the world, and two Music and Parental Mental Wellbeing online events oriented to building an international network in this field.
Participatory Research Funds supported an hourly-paid composition professor to deliver ‘We Compose’, a songwriting programme with a group of 15–16-year-olds with learning disabilities, as demonstrated in this draft edit of the project’s KE film.
As detailed in our first KEF, the RCM’s Centre for Performance Science (CPS) is a partner in the £5million Connecting Capability-funded MedTech SuperConnector project led by Imperial College. Six RCM ECR cohorts have been led through an eight-month entrepreneurial training programme to determine the most effective methods for translation of med-tech discoveries into clinical practice and consumer use.
The Research and KE Fellow, based in CPS, has continued developing CPS’ experiential learning offer. During Covid lockdowns three online workshops commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) were delivered to 30 senior managers in 60 countries. CPS Performers-in-Residence presented skills and strategies from their domains such as music, sleight-of-hand magic or puppetry to connect with audiences using a range of verbal and non-verbal techniques. Workshop support materials posted to the Resident Representatives (participants) allowed them to take part in practical activities during online sessions, including a magic trick:
Image courtesy of George Waddell, CPS
CPS’s music and health research is impactful for practitioners and end-users. Research from the Music and Motherhood project continues to be used in the Breathe Arts Research SHAPER study (both in-person and online), and in Creative Futures’ music sessions for mothers at risk of postnatal depression at St Mary’s Hospital.
CPS is also engaging with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport around support for arts professionals in the aftermath of COVID-19. The HEartS Professional research project examined the experience of professionals across the creative industries during the pandemic, as well as ongoing challenges faced across the sector in maintaining wellbeing, livelihoods, and diversity in a post-pandemic cultural environment.
Aspect 3: Results
Access Agreement targets have been met through a well-established and robust contextual admissions policy, ensuring applicants from under-represented backgrounds have every opportunity to demonstrate their potential at audition. The EDI Scholarships Scheme in 2021-22 totalled £46,250 in support for ethnically diverse students and students from areas of low participation in HE.
Awarded a BREEAM ‘very good’ rating for the new Courtyard Building, the first year of the Carbon Management Plan achieved a 60% carbon reduction, enabling us to improve our performance on the People and Planet University League. The Courtyard Project’s Post-Occupancy Evaluation Report notes increased Library visibility/use via the new Atrium entrance, expanded interest in the digital archives and unlocked access to our cultural assets, including our collections, performance programme, and the RCM community of musicians itself. This is demonstrated by the Museum’s 2021-22 Visitor Survey logging 12,900 visitors (many first time) and £519,473 of Total Economic Impact of Visitors to the Local Economy.
The first Graduate Outcomes Return which measured rates at 15, rather than six months after graduation, reported 86% of the 2018-19 cohort (having studied through Covid) moving into employment or further study. Professional Engagements and Teaching Service bookings dramatically reduced during 2020/21 but recovered considerably in 2021-22. A successful online pivot at the start of the pandemic reaching clients from across the USA and Japan, has continued post Covid.
Bringing in £344,592 to the RCM, our MedTech cohort’s innovations include a digital musical instrument mobile app for children with sensorimotor impairment, piloted in UK and Hong Kong primary and special educational needs schools. The app has also been used to reinforce community participation at a Family Fun Day funded by The Mayor's Fund for London. Future plans include developing a VR version of the app through applications to public engagement and KE funds. A therapeutic trumpet for those with Cystic Fibrosis from the first cohort attracted NIHR i4i funding; further funding is being sought for prototype trials:
Respiratory device, image courtesy of MedTech
Positive feedback from the online interdisciplinary leadership workshops below has led to the UNDP commissioning a second programme:
‘This training is very innovative in terms of its approach and its connection to other fields… it gives you a very different and new away to approach the complex problems of development. I would highly recommend it.’
‘…bringing different aspects of domains of works (medicine, music, magic, forensic sciences, cooking etc.) and link it to development work. Similarities and learning opportunities are huge and I never made these connections’
Public & Community Engagement
Summary of approach
Performance is central to our identity as a music conservatoire. Each year a diverse public-facing artistic programme of over 500 events is delivered by our students, staff, and internationally renowned artists. This extensive programme of activities is curated to engage a wide range of different audiences.
An inclusive programme of community workshops is delivered by our Learning and Participation (‘Sparks’) and Museum teams; students perform in community settings via our Creative Careers Centre, whilst co-designed public health research engages and benefits local and international communities.
The RCM’s refreshed Strategic Plan places access and inclusivity at the heart of the RCM as the institution extends its reach, and engages with communities and the public in new and expanded ways.
Aspect 1: Strategy
Our strategic approach and goals
The RCM’s public engagement work aligns with the institution’s vision to be a ‘relevant, persuasive and world-leading advocate for the future of music, as an agent for positive and meaningful cultural change’. In our Research and KE Strategy we seek to maximise ‘the beneficial impact of RCM research for the wider public good’. These strategic priorities are recognised in the RCM’s Strategic Plan 2017-27 which commits to ‘increase our relevance to the local community through a programme of public engagement featuring meaningful projects and partnerships’.
Based on outcomes from the first KEF, in 2021 the RCM signed up for the KEC Concordat and identified the following institutional strategic goals, which align with the broader strategic priorities above:
Connecting in meaningful and sustainable ways with more diverse audiences and learners
Developing the College’s role as a vibrant cultural hub that has a positive impact on its local community
Providing sector-leading employability opportunities for our students
Maximising the KE potential of our staff community, which includes a high number of industry professionals and internationally-leading researchers.
Institutional level identification of relevant public/ community groups and their needs
This is currently delegated to individual departments (Artistic Planning, Museum, Creative Careers, Sparks, Research), delivering bespoke activities. We recognise that an institutional level set of shared P&CE principles would improve alignment and collective understanding of our strategic goals. In response to KEC feedback, as of summer 2022 the development of an RCM P&CE Strategy is underway.
How our approach is distinctive to the RCM and the context in which we work
Our unique artistic programme of 500+ public-facing music performances and events each year is at the core of our P&CE. This is made possible by the large number of practising performers and composers in our student and staff community, providing our students and the external community with access to and experience of the highest levels of artistic practice.
The Centre for Performance Science (CPS), a collaboration with Imperial College London, is a leading international centre for research in performance health, musical care, and arts and health. This work is especially timely in an era where social prescribing is a rapidly expanding field for improved health and wellbeing.
How we have built considerations of EDI into our approach
The RCM introduced a new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy in 2021 to cover all areas of RCM’s work. P&CE initiatives include:
Introducing a ‘pay what you can’ model for performances (most of which are free)
EDI informing every stage of Museum and Sparks’ P&CE projects, from project proposals to evaluation
EDI is a key selection criterion in the RCM Accelerate Start-up Programme
The Artistic Strategy committing to presenting more repertoire and artists from underrepresented groups.
We recognise however there are gaps in our EDI processes, such as not currently collecting full data on audience demographics for concerts, and embedding EDI in KE project planning.
Aspect 2: Support
Resource and support for P&CE
Directorate members and specific professional services managers are responsible for P&CE, including Performance and Programming, Sparks, the Museum, the Creative Careers Centre and the Research & KE Office. These areas intersect with learning and teaching, research, artistic programming, EDI, employability training and widening participation.
As a small and specialist institution (SSI), centralised resource for P&CE is limited. Our Research and KE Office is small even for a conservatoire, with a 1.0FTE RKE Manager and a 0.6FTE Research Finance Officer who manage and administer all areas of research/KE.
Mechanisms that are in place to facilitate excellent engagement practice
The KEC Action Plan identified the need for a discrete, informal committee focussing on KE/PCE. Termly meetings of a new RCM KE Working Group (KEWG) chaired by the Director of Programmes began in March 2022, with representation from across the College. This committee:
Provides a forum for College departments engaged in P&CE and KE to share good practice and identify KE potential
Is tasked with developing a College-wide P&CE strategy that reflects a set of shared principles and values
Monitors and evaluates KE projects with a view to maximising the benefit and impact of College KE activities
Promotes EDI with specific reference to the RCM EDI policy and strategy, and reflects regularly on how the work of the Group might support the strategy.
Outstanding P&CE practice is promoted by the RCM’s MarComms team, including the termly public-facing ‘Upbeat’ magazine and web and social media channels, and the ‘Music and Ideas’ series of free, public research and KE talks.
Practical support in place to support and recognise P&CE
Recognition of KE in academic job descriptions was introduced in 2021- there is no promotion track for research-active staff, and the same applies for KE-active staff. However all staff, salaried or hourly-paid, have access to our UKRI internal fund allocations, encouraging co-produced pilot civic engagement projects, partnership development and scoping activities. The funds are managed, administered, and monitored by the R&KE Manager and promoted to staff on Learn, the RCM’s intranet, with support for time buy-out, equipment purchases, administrative support, CPD and specialist training.
Responsiveness to the needs and interests of our communities, and the co-creation of knowledge
During Covid (2019-2021) our P&CE was quickly pivoted online, including YouTube performances, digital exhibitions and Zoom family learning and participation resources and sessions.
The RKE Manager launched a KE/PCE page in 2022 on the staff intranet
to promote understanding of, and opportunities to engage to a highly
peripatetic staff base, feeding into externally facing KE web pages in
2022-23. Materials include an ‘Is it KE?’ infographic: 
We have significantly invested in outreach and related activity from the outset and our strategy is for this to continue. Sparks focuses on the needs of children and young people in RCM’s three local boroughs, and is involved in a Community Access programme, including a partnership with IntoUniversity (IU). We are committed to removing barriers to accessing classical music. Sparks participants receive financial support from RCM fundraising initiatives like the EDI Matching Fund.
Aspect 3: Activity
Public events: Pre-Covid RCM staff and students created and took part in over 500 annual public facing events, workshops, performances and exhibitions, including themed festivals such as the Festival of Percussion, and the Exhibition Road Festival,
2019 Percussion Festival, courtesy of George Waddell
Students are given performance opportunities in community settings through the Creative Careers Centre (see Regeneration template).
As evidenced by our HEBCI return which reported zero Box Office income, Covid had a devastating effect on our artistic programme, with no public events held in 2020-21. We responded with an extensive online concert series, seeing more than 90 online events broadcast that year and a 40% increase in online views. Since 2018 our performances on the RCM YouTube channel have received 3,126,547 views with 532,573 hours of content watched in 115 regions across the globe.
In-person events were re-introduced in 2021-22 and digital activity continues to connect many events with worldwide audiences.
Learning and Participation: RCM Collections inspire the content of all programming to help bridge the gap to learning more about our heritage objects and stories. Responding to Covid the Museum team developed a wide range of digital learning resources for families and schools, including activities tailored to Key Stages 1-4 and SEND learners. A new ‘combined’ offer with Sparks has led to every Sparks Explorers course for children aged 8-12 being inspired by an object or person from the RCM collections. The Museum Outreach team restarted its schools programme after reopening in October 2021. Sessions developed as part of the Lottery funded Teacher Ambassador Programme maximised the collections’ teaching potential, making make close connections with the National Curriculum. Currently demand for school visits is outstripping our capacity.
Image courtesy of RCM Museum
Families are a target audience for widening participation. Relaxed Sunday performances for SEND children have sold out. New ‘drop-in’ models of family engagement are being included in RCM and wider local festivals. In 2022 the two day Great Exhibition Road Festival engaged with over 1000 people. The Museum also established its regular families holiday programme; Mini Music Makers for children from 2-5 years old and the Museum Family Concert (or Workshop) for children aged 7-12:
Image courtesy of RCM Sparks
The Sparks Juniors enhanced bursary programme is available to children from under-represented backgrounds on their journey through to the RCM Junior Department and the Tri-borough Music Hub. The Get, Set, Play free family programme targets groups in lower socio-economic areas of the Tri-borough in local community settings.
The programme pivoted online to Zoom during Covid, including delivering home musical instrument packs to families. A similar pivot online occurred with the Sparks Schools partner programme, which offers a practical response to the decline of music in state schools by raising music engagement in local secondary schools with higher-than-average free school meals/pupil premium data. The infographic below illustrates the reach of Sparks activity 2021-22:
Engaging the public with music research:
The Centre for Performance Science specialises in participatory, large scale public health projects which are co-designed with practitioners and end-users in community settings.
The international Arts in the City project (April 2022- March 2024) is exploring how the social-cultural urban infrastructure in two cities of South America: Salvador (Brazil) and Cochabamba (Bolivia) impacts on its citizens’ health and wellbeing by investigating levels of social connectedness, loneliness and inclusion within large cities.
Arts in the City Image courtesy of Wikimedia
In December 2020 HEartS Professional, a new strand of the AHRC funded HEartS project (2018-2021) surveyed 385 arts professionals in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on their industry, providing first-hand insights.
Outputs include the May 2022 article ‘The future of the cultural workforce: Perspectives from early career arts professionals on the challenges and future of the cultural industries in the context of COVID-19' which noted the pandemic’s impact of the permanent closing of live venues, many creative professionals permanently shifting into other work, and the unforeseen advantages of online creative production with wider audience reach.
Aspect 4: Enhancing practice
Institution-wide approach to monitoring and evaluating the quality of engagement activities
To date departments have adopted their own approaches to monitoring outcomes. Annual reports for Learning and Participation (Sparks), The Creative Careers Centre, Research and KE and the Museum are reviewed by RCM Senate and Council. All projects supported by the internal KE fund require an evaluation report to be submitted to the RKE Office at the end of the funded period.
We are now developing a more unified, institution-wide approach to monitoring and evaluating our P&CE, however staffing capacity (1.6FTE RKE staff responsible for College-wide KE development) remains a challenge for implementation.
Collecting and sharing evidence
The R&KE Manager has started a stakeholder engagement mapping exercise to inform the new P&CE Strategy. Drawing upon current projects, a series of three short KE/PCE films for internal and external audiences was commissioned by the RKE Manager from Tantrum Media. Draft edits of the films can be viewed at: Draft KE film edits June 2022
The KE Working Group has identified Sparks and the Museum as areas of best practice in project evaluation and is encouraging peer sharing to upskill other departments. For example, Sparks developed a benchmarking and monitoring process during Covid to evaluate the musical and social development of programme participants. Participant information is collected at the beginning of a programme, with structured mid-point reflection with leaders and/or participants and end-point data collection. The Sparks team also seek information on participants’ destinations after projects, maintaining close communication with partner organisations to support long-term progression.
The Museum regularly collects visitor data and conducts annual surveys to inform its public programme. The 2022 visitor survey (254 respondents, 73% of whom were first time visitors) showed that 98.4% of visitors to the Museum rated their enjoyment as 4 or 5 (out of 5); 85% of visitors saying they would return, and 95% would recommend it to others. The detailed findings on visitor feedback and demographics inform Museum decisions on temporary exhibition curation, marketing, social media, and approaches to visitor experience. Data from MarComms campaigns is also fed back; survey data informed MarComms’ post Covid ‘Music and More’ re-opening campaign, which increased physical Museum visits up by 34% and gross ticket income up 4% compared to the previous 3 months.
Audience attendance data for public events is submitted to The Audience Agency by the MarComms team after each season to benchmark against other organisations. Specific research commissioned from the Audience Agency in 2021 to understand post-pandemic audience behaviours informed our decisions to introduce a ‘Pay What You Can’ approach to ticket prices and to retain a blended programme of in-person and digital performances. Feedback to the Artistic Programming Committee ensures future events are planned to attract and retain the widest possible audience base.
Aspect 5: Building on success
The RCM demonstrated remarkable digital agility during the pandemic, but this disruptive period (2019-2021) severely limited in-person engagement through concerts, facilities, and outreach. Audience Agency figures report that in-person attendance at RCM performances and events in 2021-22 were still below pre-pandemic levels (-36% for Spring and -20% for Summer compared to 2019). As a result, audience development (acquisition and retention) will be prioritised over the next year.
Departments currently set their own goals and report annually on outcomes through annual reports to RCM Senate and Council and interim presentations to RCM Senate Executive, the main operational committee. The KEC was a vital point of reflection and has provided a roadmap for KE enhancement at RCM. Priorities are now to complete the mapping of existing activity and implement a new PE Strategy that sets out shared strategic aims across the College. As of 2021-22, work is underway to raise awareness of existing PC&E activity through films, the staff intranet, guidance documents, social media, internal newsletters, and staff training.
The Museum and Sparks demonstrate developed approaches to evaluation and enhancement, including co-creation with audiences and partners. Sparks maintains close relationships with the Tri-Borough Music Hub (through representation on the TBMH steering group), and community music organisations including Nucleo, Music Masters, and the London Music Fund. These partnerships inform Sparks’ programme design at all levels.
Over the last two years the Sparks Juniors programme has drawn upon external consultancy by Sound Connections to develop improved monitoring and evaluation procedures. A new framework has been introduced to collect parent/pupil, teacher, and wider stakeholders’ feedback that informs programme enhancement for improved student outcomes.
The RCM Museum’s annual visitor surveys, initiated during 2022, aid understanding of current and potential audiences and planning. Evaluation during the Museum’s closure included collating desk research on the local catchment area using Audience Finder, reviewing research commissioned by the RBK&C including the borough’s Visitor and Arts and Cultural Policies and data drawn from London & Partners (Mayor of London) promoting London as a destination.
Note You are currently viewing the latest version of this narrative statement. View the previous version as published in previous iterations of the KEF (KEF1 and KEF2)