Finalist

Young Entrepreneurial University of the Year Award

Royal Northern College of Music

Finalist of the Young Entrepreneurial University of the Year Award

Royal Northern College of Music - United Kingdom

"Preparing students to lead the music industry of the future"


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@rncmlive
(Official RNCM Instagram account)
https://www.facebook.com/rncmlive
(Official RNCM Facebook account)
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@rncmlive
(Official RNCM YouTube account)

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Summary

Of all students studying for degrees in higher education, music students are the most likely to go on to be self-employed. The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) trains world-leading student musicians from 60+ countries around the world to lead and shape the music industry of the future. All undergraduate students undertake projects (e.g. putting on a concert, tour, designing school workshops), placements, can apply for the RNCM Entrepreneurship Award and undertake training in digital skills, finance, tax, project management, marketing, budgeting, recording, and websites.

The RNCM’s world-leading entrepreneurship education was recently recognised when it was awarded £902,153 from the Office for Students and Research England (UK governmental bodies) to lead a project exploring the most effective ways to train creative industries students in entrepreneurial skills. This two-year ‘StART Entrepreneurship project’ (2020-22) was led by Dr Michelle Phillips (Head of Enterprise (Academic)) at the RNCM, and was in partnership with the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and University of the Arts London.

The UK music industry contributes significantly to the UK economy (£5.8 billion in 2019), and musicians trained at specialist music institutions in the UK go on to very successful careers in music. The need for high quality self-employment training has never been so urgent following the COVID-19: “The cultural and creative sectors were among the hardest hit by the pandemic, with over 10 million jobs lost in 2020 alone” (Reshaping Policies for Creativity, 2022).

Key People


Dr Michelle Phillips
Head of Enterprise (Academic)
Research and Knowledge Exchange,  Royal Northern College of Music



Hannah McCabe
Fellow of Creative and Professional Practice
Artist Development,  Royal Northern College of Music



Gavin Wayte
Fellow of Creative and Professional Practice
Artist Development,  Royal Northern College of Music



Professor Jennie Henley
Director of Programmes
Academic Studies,  Royal Northern College of Music



Manus Carey
Vice Principal (Performance and Programming)
Executive,  Royal Northern College of Music


Acknowledgements

Professor Andy Penaluna - Research Director of the Centre for Creative Entrepreneurship, University of Wales Trinity Saint David
Professor Nigel Adams - Director, Buckingham Enterprise & Innovation Unit (BEIU), University of Buckingham
Paul Coyle - Director, eMindset Network
David Taylor - music entrepreneur
Dr Matt Rogers-Draycott - Innovation Curriculum Developer, Warwick Enterprise, University of Warwick

StART Entrepreneurship Advisory Board:

Professor Joe Bennett - Berklee
Alison Price - Principal Consultant, Enterprise Educators
Lisa McMullan - Director for Development & Consultancy, The Women's Organisation
Dr Stuart Norton - Senior Consultant (Education), Advance HE
Kevin Osbourne - MeWe360
Fran Sanderson - Director, Arts & Culture Investments and Programmes, NESTA
Dr Vikas Shah MBE- entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist, Deputy Lieutenant of the Greater Manchester Lieutenancy

Images

Entrepreneurship expert Prof Andy Penaluna endorses the RNCM nomination for a Triple E Award

RNCM staff (Head of Enterprise, Fellow in Creative and Professional Practice and Vice Principal) present entrepreneurship content of the RNCM degree at RNCM open day

RNCM big band students showcasing creative innovation in practice, in music improvisation

Live illustration made during creativity focus group with RNCM researchers and students

Vulva Voce string quartet, who won the RNCM Entrepreneurship Award, performing at the classical Battle of the Bands (which they won)

StART Project Principal Investigator Michelle Phillips, Head of Enterprise (Academic) at RNCM, sharing the findings of the StART project with staff, students and music industry professionals

StART Project Entrepreneurship bootcamp workshop online during COVID 19 pandemic

RNCM presents data on student barriers to accessing entrepreneurship education at EEUK conference

RNCM message on stairs, encouraging students to try out new ideas and be entrepreneurial

RNCM StART team with entrepreneurship expert Prof Andy Penaluna

RNCM StART project live illustration from final symposium

RNCM Creative Innovators staff, students and industry panel

RNCM Head of Enterprise invited to be on Advance HE learning and teaching conference panel on entrepreneurship education

RNCM StART final symposium panel with staff, students and industry experts, in RNCM Concert Hall

IMPACT STORY

Impacting lifes

The extensive entrepreneurship education at the RNCM impacts students, their careers, and all those who enjoy and benefits from music – audiences, people living with dementia and Parkinson’s, schools, and many others.
Student testimony:

“I am so grateful for the StART project. The whole programme was invaluable to me and has equipped me with the skills needed to pave my way into a music industry that is so rapidly changing. Without the inspiration from this wonderful scheme, I would have never been able to get to where I am today with my new charity Musicians’ Minds Together.”

Music industry testimony:

Matthew Hodge, Director, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Brisbane: “Loved your talk [LinkedIn Live] and keep up the great work. In Australia, it seems like much of our tertiary education for classical music is simply to equip people to be professional orchestral musicians or music teachers - but you're literally encouraging the next generation to remake the industry. Encouraging!”

James Sargeant, Business Manager, Yamaha, speaking at RNCM Creative Innovators Award: “It has been a real pleasure to be here again for the RNCM Creative Innovators Award […] I think this is really crucial in a student’s development because an initiative that is as unique as this, giving students a real-life experience, helping them find the skills that they need when they leave the RNCM to pitch their ideas in a business world, is perfect. Congratulations to RNCM with continuing with this initiative because it really is unique and long may it continue.”

LEARNINGS

Lessons learned

Dr Michelle Phillips has been invited to share findings of RNCM activity around entrepreneurship and the findings of the StART Entrepreneurship Project with colleagues in Colorado, Rochester, Brisbane, Helsinki, Paris, and other UK music conservatoires.

RNCM learning points for teaching entrepreneurship:

o Terminology - use terms which resonate with students, e.g., 'creative innovation'
o Important to factor in individual artistic identity, embrace students’ values, passions, and beliefs
o Access and inclusion - barriers exist to students accessing activity, some which are difficult to remove (e.g., our research showed that barriers include caring responsibilities and part time jobs)
o Students as partners and advisors - treating students as colleagues in the journey
o The importance of alumni - alumni may be more relatable to students as guest speakers than bringing in established professionals
o Money matters - it is important to teach students skills around money from the first year of their studies
o Social entrepreneurship - students are very driven by the desire to create social change, and generating social value (e.g., how they can use their art to help people living with dementia)
o Embedding needed - it is important to include entrepreneurship training in degree programme curricula
o Importance of institutional buy in - there must be belief in the value and importance of this at senior manager level
o Knowledge sharing across institutions - there is a lot to learn from institutions working with one another and learning from others in the sector

FUTURE PLANS

What's coming?

Dr Michelle Phillips was recently invited by the RNCM Academic Board to present ideas for future entrepreneurship at the RNCM. Plans include:

1) Building entrepreneurship activity further into the curriculum in all programmers

2) sharing knowledge with other creative industries institutions and the wider community, via e.g., Dr Phillips was awarded Fellowship of Enterprise Educators UK, and was elected as a Director of the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) (both in 2022)

3) Designing a Centre for entrepreneurship / creative innovation, to launch in 2023 or 2024

4) 4 publications in progress about learnings from the StART project, 2 already published

5) More invited talks and keynotes to come (9 already given over the last two years, plus 8 other conference presentations)

6) Ongoing research regarding barriers to students accessing entrepreneurship education

KEY STATISTICS

19,831

Hours of student engagement with StART Entrepreneurship Project activities

3,243

Students engaged in StART Entrepreneurship Project activities

233

New creative industry partnerships formed in the StART Entrepreneurship Project

798

Events delivered as part of the StART Entrepreneurship Project

213

New teaching materials and toolkits developed during the StART Entrepreneurship Project

50,000

Amount of money (£50,000) raised per year by the RNCM Development team to support student entrepreneurship projects (for a total student body of 900 students)

5,000

Annual prize fund (GBP) available for all students in the RNCM Creative innovators Award

Triple E Awards

The Triple E Awards are a global recognition of efforts toward the quest for entrepreneurship and engagement in higher education. It is the first award to focus specifically on different dimensions of the universities' third mission. Implemented regionally, the Triple E Awards aim to foster change in universities and to emphasize their role in their communities and ecosystems.

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