Climate Action

In association with the Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy Programme, the Sheffield Region Brass Network has published a new online guide to help brass bands adapt to a sustainable, resilient, and climate-changed future. The climate is changing around us and is impacting on everyone’s lives across the world.  As a part of the creative industries sector brass bands are uniquely placed to play a leading role in driving change, and in transforming environmental understanding at a community level. Most current climate change adaptation guidance is aimed at large-scale organisations and is inappropriate for the scale of cultural community organisations like brass bands, or their creative activities.  The suggestions on the Sheffield Region Brass Network website tailor specific guidance and an easy-to-follow […]

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Sheffield Region Brass Network – About Us:

The Sheffield Region Brass Network is a not-for-profit organisation originally established in 2013 by Rachel Veitch-Straw, David Morris and Stuart Young to increase the profile and visibility of brass bands in the Sheffield City Region UK through Information, Education and Advocacy by facilitating regular networking meetings and providing relevant online support where available. The Sheffield Region Brass Network is now administered by Joy Newbould, Stuart Young and Sophie Anderson. Joy Newbould BA PGCE – Chair Joy began her banding career aged 10 in Carlton Silver Band (Nottinghamshire); her highlight there, winning 3rd Section (1978) in London. Joy studied for a music degree at Bretton Hall College. Whilst there, Joy played with several Yorkshire bands under such luminaries as Peter Kitson, Ray […]

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Effective Social Media and blogging for bands

At the recent Sheffield Brass Network event, “Better contact with the media and your audience”, Alex Burns was invited to give a presentation on ‘Effective Social Media and blogging for bands’. Alex has a music performance degree at the University of Sheffield, an MA in Musicology, works alongside several local music organisations and currently holds a trumpet residency with the Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as playing cornet with the Yorkshire Championship Section Old Silkstone Band. Alex also administrates the award-winning Classicalexburns classical music blog. Here’s a synopsis of what Alex revealed about social media at the event: What can social media do for my band? – Reach new audiences – Keep your already engaged audiences up to date with […]

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Wellbeing in Brass Bands

A new research article authored by Dr Victoria J. Williamson and Dr Michael Bonshor, of the Department of Music, University of Sheffield, UK, published by ‘Frontiers in Psychology Journal’ reports on ‘Wellbeing in Brass Bands: The Benefits and Challenges of Group Music Making’. This original research began life a couple of years ago with a survey distributed with the assistance of Brass Bands England. Recent studies by others have focussed upon the apparent benefits of singing in choral situations, however, in this new study by Drs Williamson and Bonshor they have, ‘identified wellbeing themes that are less common in choral research; impacts relating to the brass bands’ physical demands, competitive tradition, community roles, and cross-generational social structures.’ The anonymous survey […]

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How To Write A Press Release

Every brass band could have a marketing officer, or, at the very least, someone who is good with words and can turn their hand to preparing a page of text from time to time. In this digital age it is even more important to have someone in your organisation who can craft a quality sentence, with correct and concise grammar, and exemplify your band’s exploits in your chosen media as often as possible. Whether your band sends press releases to the media, sticks them on your website or simply uses them to ensure a consistent message across your social media outlets, a well-written press release is still one of the most useful communication tools. First of all, it’s important to […]

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Funding Advice Seminar Review

After several months of organisation and liaison, we were pleased to be able to facilitate a funding advice seminar on Wednesday 6th February. Stuart Young introduced the Sheffield Brass Network (SBN) event and thanked Chris Palmer and Sam Craggs of SoundBytes Media for hosting it at The Foundry Studio in Sheffield. Presentations followed by Richard Brown of Arts Council England, Peter Foyle of the South Yorkshire Funding Advice Bureau (SYFAB), and Rachel Veitch-Straw of Key Fund, with over 30 attendees present from all corners of the Sheffield City Region and beyond, including Lincolnshire, North Nottinghamshire, Doncaster and Chesterfield. Ensembles other than brass bands had been invited to take part in the event and we were pleased to welcome representatives from local choirs and orchestra. […]

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Brass Band Funding Advice Seminar

The next Sheffield Brass Network event is planned for Wednesday 6th February 2019 and will be held at 19:30 – 21:30 at The Foundry Studio, 3 Brown Street, Sheffield S1 2BS. Richard Brown from Arts Council England, Peter Foyle from South Yorkshire Funding Advice Bureau, and Rachel Veitch-Straw from KeyFund have been invited by the Sheffield Brass Network to present funding advice and information of specific relevance to brass bands and music-related ensembles at this event. There will be plenty of time at the event for attendees to quiz the fund representatives with specific band and ensemble-related questions. This ‘free’ seminar will be open to any brass band or music-related ensemble representative(s) within striking distance of Sheffield, however preregistration by […]

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Sheffield local carols

It’ll soon be that time of year again; ‘the December madness’, as some of the brass bands refer to it. If you really want to get into the Christmas spirit though there’s nothing better than to sing along to some carols with a brass band, and throughout December you’ll find all the Sheffield bands out and about all over the place, but if you particularly want to find out where some of the bands are going to play some of the ‘local’ Sheffield carols one of the best places to look is the Village Carols website at http://www.localcarols.org.uk/sings.php where you’ll find a list of many of the venues along with the names of the brass bands who’ll be playing at several […]

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