Our Values

Text-only versionDownload

Text Version

At YCP we strive to cultivate an inclusive, diverse and welcoming community that nurtures composers and creators
from all backarounds. We know that the word ‘composer’ carries some historical baggage, so we want evervone to feel
that they can take ownership of their creativity and redetine that it means to be a composer. We are proud that YCP has always had inclusivity at the heart of what we do and one of our main aims has been to demystify and break down the stereotypes associated with composing and composers. Firstly, YCP has always been and always will be free for everyone. Since we started in 2014, we have made sure to have an equal number o temale and male students, as well as welcoming composers from all musical styles. We also love the fact that many of the composers working on YCP as part of our mentor team are past CP students! This means our mentors are more aware of the sorts of things the students will be going through or struggling with.
But this doesn’t mean we can’t keep improvina and do more. We are taking steps to create a more inclusive
environment through changes such as:

  1. Diversifying the music we look at in the YCP workshops
  2. Inviting more female and non-binarv composers. composers of colour. and music-creators
    with disabilities to deliver quest talks.
  3. Including non-western musical instruments for students to compose for
  4. Introducing agenda items to reflection on equality, diversity and inclusion at our YCP team meetings

A core-part of YCP is that it is student-led, meaning that we only have a limited number of spaces for students each year. Therefore, this year we followed the guidance published by Sound and Music’s ‘Fair Access Principals’ to help us
reflect on the application process and minimised risk ot exclusion. We will reflect on this early. We want to make sure young people from all backgrounds feel empowered to keep creating their own music express their musical voices, and to feel like it is possible to consider pursuing composing further in higher education and as a career.