Amber Music Awards

Amber Music Awards exist to provide music opportunities for individual blind and partially sighted children.

The Trustees often receive more applications than they are able to support and so Amber can only consider requests that will be of clear and direct benefit to the child or young person. Applications will be assessed using the following criteria:
• Importance of music to the child
• Expected benefit of the Award to the child
• The family’s capacity to obtain funding elsewhere

What can Amber Music Awards Fund?

Music Awards can fund:
• Instrumental and singing lessons*
• Braille music lessons
• Music Development lessons
• The purchase of musical instruments
• Items of specialist musical technology (For example: Software such as Logic Pro) Please note that The Amber Trust does not consider applications for iPads or Laptops. The maximum amount we can fund in this category is £250)
• Tickets and assistance with attending concerts (where a child is already receiving music lessons through an Amber Music Award)
• Travel and accommodation to access opportunities for making music

* For a child to be considered for a Music Award for instrumental or singing lessons we expect them to have the ability to play or sing short songs in time and in tune. If the Music Awards committee feels that a child does not meet this criteria we may suggest an alternative Amber programme.

Who can apply for an Amber Music Award?

Applications are open to all blind and partially sighted children and young people living in the UK, who may also have other disabilities or special educational needs, until the age of 18. New applications must be made before the young person’s 18th birthday. For current recipients, Amber will consider reapplications if the young person is already 18 years of age, supporting them until their 19th birthday.

Who can make the application?

Applications must be made by a parent / carer* of a blind or partially sighted child or young person (please note that we are unable to accept applications that have been completed on behalf of a parent or carer). From the age of 16 a young person can make an application in their own right – but they must include contact details for a parent or carer in their application. We accept applications for more than one child in the same family, but a separate application should be submitted for each child.

*This should be a person who has parental responsibility for the child and with whom the child lives.

If you need support in completing an application, then please contact the Music Awards Manager who will be able to provide appropriate signposting – contact@ambertrust.org

When should I apply?

Amber holds three award meetings per year.

Meeting	Deadline
March	February 28th
July	June 30th
December	November 15th

Once you have submitted your application, you will receive an automatic email response which includes a check list of everything that you need to submit by the deadline for your new application or reapplication. Please read this email carefully.

Subsidy bands

For both new applications and reapplications you can select from one of the following subsidy options:

• Band A – 100% subsidy (Amber funds the full cost of lessons up to the maximum amount in Amber’s Teacher Pay Matrix)

• Band B – 75% subsidy (Amber funds 75% up to the maximum amount in Amber’s Teacher Pay Matrix, the family contributes the remaining 25% and any remaining amount if they have chosen a teacher whose rate is above Amber’s maximum)

• Band C – 50% subsidy (Amber funds 50% up to the maximum amount in Amber’s Teacher Pay Matrix, the family contributes the remaining 50% and any remaining amount if they have chosen a teacher whose rate is above Amber’s maximum)

Amber’s teacher pay matrix can be found here (pdf).

When will I hear if my application has been successful?

We will inform you of the outcome of your application as soon as possible after the Music Awards meeting. Please note that the outcome of your application may be delayed if you have not submitted all of the requested information.

When will Funding Start?

If your application is successful, funding for music lessons will start from the date your child’s Music Award is confirmed. Amber does not fund retrospectively. If lessons have already started, then you will need to fund those lessons which have taken place up to the date your child’s Music Award is confirmed.

We sometimes need to use waiting lists to manage demand for our support. If we need to put your child on a waiting list we will offer an estimate of how long you might need to wait before the Award can start.