Rhosygilwen is introducing an annual music bursary to support a talented school leaver aspiring to follow a career in music through studying at a conservatoire or university.

Menter Rhosygilwen will offer an annual bursary of £3,000 to an instrumentalist, singer or composer showing exceptional talent, and where financial hardship might deter further musical study. The bursary will be offered over a two-year period (£6,000 in total). Half the bursary will be paid in advance of the first year upon acceptance by an educational institution, and the second half paid after the institution has confirmed the student’s successful continuation into the second year.

The promotion and selection process will be undertaken by the charity Young Music Makers of Dyfed, which works with schools and music services across the three counties of Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire. Schools and music services will recommend candidates whose future options are genuinely constrained by their economic means.  

The recommended candidates will then be required to participate in one or more of the charity’s programmes for instrumentalists, singers and composers – details and application forms are to be found on www.ymmd.org.uk. Feedback from the professional musicians leading those programmes will inform the recommendation YMMD will make to Menter Rhosygilwen. 

The bursary will be offered starting with the academic year 2025-26, and initially only to a student studying at a UK conservatoire or university. The recipient of the first bursary will be announced by Glen Peters at the Young Musician of Dyfed final in April 2025. 

To nominate a young person, email Emyr Wynne Jones, Chair of YMMD, [email protected] by the end of September 2024 briefly outlining your reasons for your choice.