My first ever guest, and music education advocacy superstar, Dr Anita Collins, returns in the 50th episode of my podcast. Anita describes herself as an educator, researcher and writer in the field of brain development and music learning - but she is so much more than that. We discuss her work in advocating for music education, and focus in on practical ways to win hearts and minds for music.

In this episode I’m joined by some of the team at CUMIN – the contemporary urban music for inclusion network: Dr Pete Dale, Professor Pam Burnard, and Dr Raphael Travis from the universities of York, Cambridge and Texas State University. The network is for anyone working through music with young people in genres like hip-hop, grime, EDM, house and more. We discuss the challenges of measuring impact, the need for multiple and participant-led methods in evaluation. We also discuss the book 'Music for Inclusion and Healing in Schools and Beyond'.

In this episode I talk with Jenny Young, Director and founder of Blue Cabin, a charity based in the north East of England that strengthen relationships between care-experienced individuals and the people in their lives through creative activities. We talk about how Blue Cabin has grown, touching on developing practitioners, growing income streams, working with local authorities and adoption/fostering agencies, and evaluation.

In this second mini podcast, I want to quickly touch on framing again, but this time, thinking about long-term, systemic solutions. But perhaps not in the way you might imagine.

Because at a time when support for the arts from politicians in the UK doesn’t seem to be improving, I think we have a massive opportunity.

It’s an opportunity to make a systemic shift our arts CPD and support system, a shift in focus that will enable us to

· Change perceptions about the work we do, and why it matters.

· To make sure the arts, music and culture are properly valued and embedded in public policy as a means to improve our society and our lives.

EDIT: With apologies for the error: audience development in the arts is 35 years old, not 25 years. It still seems like yesterday to me!

In this short episode, I’m talking with … myself! In a change to the usual format, I’m sharing some thoughts on how we talk about why arts, culture and music matter. I touch on framing, messaging and decision science, and I mention organisations and individuals that can help, and are worth following.

How did a youth music charity go from moments of almost giving up, to being core funded by Arts Council England, and respected by commissioners/funders in public health and youth justice? Listen in on my chat about resilience with Adam Joolia, CEO of AudioActive, the brilliant Sussex charity that uses music as a tool for social change, education, and personal development with young people.

In this episode, I talk with Dr Ally Daubney, educator, researcher, evaluator and author and John Bergin, CEO of Newham Music, one of the partners in the East London Music Alliance music education hub. Following 5 years of research into participation, professional development, progression and sustainability in music education, they’ve developed a model for what they term a ‘rich music education ecology’.

In this episode, I talk with Erin Johnson-Williams and Caz Creagh from the Arts & Humanities Research Council - Hub for Public Engagement with Music Research. The hub is part of the Centre for Music Education and Social Justice at Southampton University. It aims to connect music education research to real-world settings, and to fund research that informs government policy to have a lasting impact on people and music across the UK.