“This opportunity enables a whole cohort of music educators to lift their practice to a significantly higher level. Ultimately, it's the wider music communities they engage who will reap the benefits of these scholarships. Congratulations.” [Dr Joe Harrop, Programme Director, Sistema Aotearoa]

The Pettman Dare Scholarships, launched in 2010, have just received a significant funding boost, enabling the programme to better address the identified and increasing need for Music Education leadership and resource in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Professor Barrie and Mrs Maureen Pettman (who are from East Yorkshire but spend half of each year at their home in Akaroa, NZ) have generously extended and enhanced their philanthropic funding for Pettman Dare Scholarships for six years up to 2020. “We passionately believe that engaging with music and the arts can have a lasting, positive impact on individuals and the communities of which they are a part,” the Pettmans say.

The Pettman Dare Scholarship programme has already made a significant difference to the professional growth of four talented arts practitioners from New Zealand: Hedda Oosterhoff 2010/11, Hugo Zanker 2011/12, Chris Clark 2012/13, Rosel Labone 2013/14. Now, through the creation of two Pettman Dare Music Education Scholarships per year (one for an emerging leader from New Zealand, the second from the UK) for five years from January 2016, this proven model for career development has the potential to have a deeper and more wide-reaching impact on the sector in both the UK and New Zealand. The scheme is being launched with one emerging leader from New Zealand in 2015. The theme of the 2015 Scholarship is Voice and Young People.

The 12 month practice-based programme is delivered in partnership with experts and leading organisations in the UK and New Zealand, including Opera North, University of Leeds, New Zealand Opera and University of Auckland. The scholar will spend nine months in the UK, followed by three months in New Zealand.

A combination of hands-on experience supported by mentoring and teaching will enable future leaders from the UK and New Zealand to realise their leadership potential, develop their skills and knowledge to influence music practice in a way that enhances the future growth of the sector, and transform the lives of young people through music.

The Pettman Dare Scholarships are open to talented music education practitioners in the UK and New Zealand, who, while at an early stage of their career, already demonstrate vision, ambition and leadership potential. For further information or to register an interest, go to http://www.dareyou.org.uk/projects/pettman-dare-scholarship-2015-open-for-applications/ or contact DARE manager Lesley Patrick, Lesley@dareyou.org.uk.
Application deadline for the 2015 Scholarship is Friday 26 September 2014.

The Scholar will be registered as a Practice-led Research Scholar at the University of Leeds at the School of Performance and Cultural Industries in the Faculty of Performance, Visual Arts and Communications.

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The Pettman Dare Scholarships are fully funded through the generous support of Professor Barrie and Mrs Maureen Pettman, through the Opera North Future Fund.

The Scholarship programme is delivered through DARE, a partnership between Opera North and the University of Leeds in the UK. DARE is joined by New Zealand Opera and the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

DARE is a unique collaboration between Opera North and the University of Leeds, the first partnership of its kind in the UK. As two of the UK’s leading institutions of culture and education they fuse the artistic with the academic, combining the very best of both organisations to inspire and stimulate new ways of thinking and working. Initiatives including the creation of new work, research, conferences, work-based learning programmes, fellowships, scholarships and the sharing of ideas and aspirations are having a positive impact on students, audiences and the wider sector – and are making a positive contribution to the business development of their organisations.

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