
MOBO Founder and CEO, Kanya King, is excited about the support the fund can provide. Pic: Flickr
Now, in its second year, MOBO Help Musicians Fund will back another 20 artists while increasing the grant to £40,000
Last year’s pilot to provide funding to grassroots music creators was such a success that 20 more artists have been awarded grants. The MOBO Help Musicians Fund is a partnership between Help Musicians UK and MOBO Trust, and this year the prize money has been increased from £20,000 to £40,000.
The fund is designed to offer financial backing to promising emerging solo artists, groups, producers and songwriters from across the UK. The grant can be used to support the artist’s career, from recording studio time, PR campaigns, promotion, touring and merchandise. A committee of industry experts selected the winners from almost 200 applicants. The winning artists represent a wide range of genres including pop, rock, reggae, hip-hop, soul and jazz.
This year’s successful applicants are: Afro Sam, Amahla, Arieleno, Daniel Casimir, Empress Imani, Freya Roy, Mali Hayes, Melissa James, Mercy’s Cartel, Miryam Solomon, NoTTwins, Omahrose, PYJÆN, RUE, Saie/The Afro Romantic, SERAPHINA, Shunaji, Strange Bones, TrueMendous and YUN SEN.
“Supporting the next generation of exceptional talent across diverse genres is a huge part of achieving HMUK’s vision of a world where musicians thrive,” said Claire Gevaux, Help Musicians UK Director of Programme. “Because of the success of the pilot, we’ve been able to double the size of the MOBO Help Musicians Fund so that 20 artists can take their careers to the next level. We would like to thank our partner, MOBO Trust, for working with us again for this incredible second year and congratulate each and every artist recipient. We hope that the funding will truly make a difference to growing and developing their music careers.”
MOBO founder and CEO Kanya King CBE said: “We are very pleased with the fantastic work the judges have done. They have chosen a variety of fresh talent representing all these music genres which is a great reflection on the UK music scene. We are especially excited to see a higher level of entries coming from a wider range of artists from diverse and often underrepresented backgrounds.”
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