Bath Philharmonia – Young carers show their resilience through music
Bath Philharmonia is a professional orchestra that delivers creative learning projects to young people across the South West to transform and enrich lives through music.
The charity has long-standing partnerships with young carer organisations and is the only UK orchestra to regularly work with young carers, each year offering learning and performance opportunities during school holidays for over 250 young carers aged 8 to 18.
Music can provide a much-needed escape, boost emotional wellbeing and foster a sense of achievement. However, for many young carers such opportunities are hard to come by.
It is estimated that there are 1,384 young carers aged 5-15 in Bristol and South Gloucestershire, and 16,118 unpaid carers up to the age of 17 in the South West. Typically, they juggle caring for a family member alongside their schoolwork, social lives and personal growth. Their situation is often isolating and they frequently lack access to the types of creative and social opportunities that many of their peers enjoy.
In response to this need, and in partnership with the Carers Support Centre in Bristol, Bath Philharmonia designed a five-day residency in March 2025 to provide young carers with a creative outlet that is a break from their caregiving duties and an opportunity to engage with orchestral music to build confidence and self-esteem, raise aspirations and reduce isolation. The residency was open to all young carers regardless of prior musical experience, to develop musicianship and collaborate on composing their own music in a positive, supportive environment.
A grant of £5,000 from SMV enabled Bath Philharmonia to provide five professional educators from their creative learning team, as well as visual art materials for the making activities, for a high-quality, structured music and art programme which is equivalent to a year’s worth of lessons in school.
Over five days at Bristol Beacon, the orchestral learning team and social workers from Carers Support Centre Bristol worked with 22 young carers aged between 9 and 17. Facilitated by the creative learning team, the young carers were encouraged to try multiple instruments and explore notions of rhythm, melody and performance alongside each other, resulting in three unique pieces of music and over 80 pieces of artwork which were transformed into animations.
The theme for the residency was ‘resilience’. Participants were introduced to three natural phenomena – tardigrades (microscopic creatures resilient to extreme conditions), mycelium (nature’s root network that connects plants and trees), and microbes (microscopic organisms – some helpful, some harmful – that can’t be seen by the naked eye) as metaphors for their lived experiences. Working in teams (percussion, strings, voice, keyboard), the young carers built their music, experimenting with sounds and rhythms, listening to each team’s ideas and working together to co-create each composition. On the fifth day of the residency, the compositions were presented to an audience of more than 40 family members, friends and supporters.
Feedback from the participants highlighted how much they enjoyed the creative process of learning to play instruments and contributing to the composition of the pieces, while performing them in front of audiences was a tangible milestone in improving their confidence and self-worth, both on and off the stage. Attending the residency also fostered a strong sense of community among the young carers, thanks to its collaborative nature which enabled older participants to mentor the younger ones.
The project culminated in a larger concert at The Forum in Bath that publicly celebrated the participants’ creativity, hard work and resilience. Well-rehearsed, excited and proud to be playing alongside 45 expert musicians, the young carers wowed an audience of more than 1,200 people. With the final round of applause ringing in their ears, these blossoming performers came away with a deep sense of pride in what they had accomplished, and lasting memories of being part of a professional orchestra.
CASE STUDY
One 13-year-old participant had been suffering with anxiety and had become withdrawn at school as a result of becoming overwhelmed by her caring responsibilities. She had previously taken part in an earlier Bath Philharmonia project, which had connected her with music as a way to express herself, and she continued to flourish in this residency.
The transformative impact of music has changed her outlook on life and she has now taken on the subject at GCSE. She says that the projects have helped her with her anxiety, her attendance at school has improved and given her a sense that she can achieve. In between projects, she has been having singing lessons with the organisation, which has resulted in her becoming confident to sing during this programme’s performances, which she says has been the best experience of her life.
