PPL PRS join forces with local creative education charity, Pedestrian, as music partner for 2023

Leicester-based music licensing company, PPL PRS Ltd, are continuing their support of arts and music across the city, by teaming up with local charity, Pedestrian, to become their music partner for 2023.

The charity, based in Leicester, pioneer potential in children and young people by using arts and creativity to engage, empower and enrich their lives through a range of education, training and outreach projects available to individuals and community groups.

This includes a variety of workshops and programmes, including Soundlab which helps learners work towards a recognised qualification in Music Technology, and Creative Arts & Photography, which explores graphic design, graffiti, illustration, animation, photography, and more.

Now in their 25th year, Pedestrian, who have already provided over 15,000 workshops in and out of schools, hope to mark their milestone anniversary celebrations by providing even more fun and engaging opportunities to the young people they support.

This includes co-producing a Grime Opera, taking place on Saturday 1st July 2023, which is an exciting project combining British Grime with Classical Opera, that will allow young people to be involved in both the performance and production side of theatre, as well as having an opportunity to write lyrics and showcase their talent across the city. 

As music partner, PPL PRS will be providing support to ensure that children and young people who enjoy creating arts and music can continue to access all the facilities and resources that the team at Pedestrian provide – as well as providing some additional exciting collaborative opportunities for young people to be involved in.

PPL PRS, the organisation that issue TheMusicLicence to business who play or perform music for their employees and customers, will be inviting young talent who are part of Pedestrian’s programmes to one of their open mic nights that take place in their offices in the city’s Mercury building.

By doing so, the music venture hopes to give young performers the opportunity to showcase their talent in a comfortable environment, learn performance skills from other musicians and gain their confidence by building their support network.

PPL PRS employees will also be involved in volunteering with Pedestrian to support the day-to-day work of the charity as well as other larger projects.

Greg Aiello, Commercial Director for PPL PRS Ltd said, “Over the last few years, PPL PRS have been involved in supporting a variety of creative projects and organisations around the city, so it’s fantastic to evolve this into becoming music partner to Pedestrian.

Not only are they an incredibly valuable cause, but they are also a dynamic and enriching one and we can’t wait to work with them during 2023, particularly as part of their 25th anniversary plans.

Here at PPL PRS, we have a hugely creative and passionate team, many of whom are musicians or involved in the arts themselves, so it will be great for us to work with Pedestrian on current projects alongside launching new ones and seeing everyone’s passion and love for music, arts and culture come together across the city.”

Paul Snape, Interim Director said, “Pedestrian has been around for 25 years and has delivered some incredible work and achieved some outstanding outcomes for the young people who it has worked with.  Being recognised by organisations like PPL PRS is humbling and we cannot wait to collaborate with them as their Music Partner. Without sponsorship and support from organisations like PPL PRS, Pedestrian wouldn’t be able to continue the great work we do in our quest to see every child and young person recognise their pioneering potential through participating in arts and creative activity.

We are already working up some exciting ideas with their team, and are excited about what the future will bring. Bringing together their employees, with our staff and freelance artists and tutors, will facilitate even more creative conversations, new concepts and ideas, all whilst nurturing our future generation in the arts and music industries.

At Pedestrian we believe in adopting a mentoring approach with young people so that they can recognise they pioneering potential.  Partnering with PPL PRS will only serve to enhance our offer, as well as gaining some real developmental and inspirational input for our young people, staff and the wider communities.”