Positive Futures: Transforming Lives Through Music and Community

At The People’s Orchestra, we believe in the transformative power of music and community. Since 2012, our Positive Futures program has been making a significant impact on the lives of individuals facing various challenges across the UK. By creating equitable opportunities and enabling people to make positive choices, we are working towards building a fairer, better-connected society.

Positive Futures uses networks of music groups as a tool to support people in achieving their best while improving their physical and mental health, understanding their financial rights, and re-joining employment or volunteering. We recognize that taking the first step can be the most challenging, especially for those facing multiple barriers to joining a community. Our program welcomes everyone, providing them with a chance to shape the future of their communities through music.

Each year, over 1,000 people join our weekly creative workshops, with 50% aged 60 and above and 20% impacted by lower socio-economic circumstances. We support 350 people annually with benefits and employment advice. The impact of Positive Futures is evident, with participants reporting increased self-esteem and confidence, enabling them to perform concerts within just six months of joining the program. Our work has been recognized with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, and our Social Return on Investment value rating stands at an impressive 1/27.

Over the next three years, with the support of the UK Fund, we aim to welcome an additional 1,320 people experiencing lower socio-economic circumstances and physical and mental health challenges to Positive Futures. We will focus on engaging people from our priority groups, including those aged 60-90+, individuals with mental health conditions, disabilities, or long-term health conditions, carers, people in the lowest income quintile, the unemployed, and those facing language or digital barriers.

Our community-led model, underpinned by digital infrastructure, allows us to scale our approach across the UK, reaching people in areas of high deprivation. We will continue delivering regular weekly activities, host participant sessions and workshops, and organize local, regional, and massed events for public audiences. Our extended digital reach will engage over 300,000 people online while connecting groups facing barriers to in-person activities via Zoom.

Positive Futures demonstrates a model where people can take the lead in their individual positive choices, creating economic, social, and health impact within their communities. Our person-centered approach responds to threshold anxiety, welcoming people to religious, education, and community hall spaces. By sharing our learnings openly and widely, we aim to inspire other voluntary sector organizations to adopt similar community-led models.