In the latest edition of the BRIT Trust Diaries, Janan Fifield, founder and CEO of Performing Room, explains how the Northampton-based charity draws on the power of music to help children, young people and adults who are living with complex mental health challenges, autism, learning disabilities and neurodivergence.
Here, Fifield outlines the work of the charity and says BRIT Trust funding will help them to continue providing high-quality, inclusive music opportunities….
I'll never stop being amazed by what can happen when someone feels safe enough to make their first sound.
Sometimes it's a young person who has barely spoken all day but quietly picks up a guitar and begins to strum. Sometimes it's someone who has spent months refusing to engage in school, only to sit behind a drum kit and discover a confidence they didn't know they had. Sometimes it's simply the moment someone laughs with another person for the first time in weeks.
Those moments don't make headlines, but they change lives.
Twenty-five years ago, Performing Room began with a simple belief: music has the power to reach people where other approaches cannot. Since then, that belief has been reaffirmed thousands of times.
Today, from our creative hub in Northampton's Cultural Quarter, we support almost 2,000 children, young people and adults every year who are living with complex mental health challenges, autism, learning disabilities and neurodivergence. Many arrive carrying experiences of exclusion, isolation or failure. Some have struggled in mainstream education. Others have withdrawn from their communities altogether. Almost all have heard more about their limitations than their potential.
When they come through our doors, we don't ask them to fit into a system. We create an environment that fits around them.
Music gives us a language that doesn't depend on grades, diagnoses or labels. Whether someone is writing lyrics, producing a track in our recording studio, performing on stage, learning an instrument or simply making music with others, creativity becomes a way of building and rebuilding confidence, communication and trust.
Again and again, we see the same transformation. Young people who once avoided leaving home begin looking forward to sessions each week. Friendships develop naturally. Families tell us they have seen smiles return, confidence grow and hope begin to replace anxiety. For many, music becomes the bridge back into education, employment or volunteering.
Since 2001, Performing Room has supported more than 15,000 people. One of the things that makes me proudest is seeing former participants return as volunteers, peer mentors and creative leaders. They understand better than anyone that belonging is not something you can simply tell someone they have – it has to be experienced.
That philosophy is shaping the next chapter of our work.
We're developing our Alternative Education provision for young people who have found mainstream education overwhelming or inaccessible. Too often these young people are viewed through the lens of behaviour, attendance or attainment. We believe the conversation should begin with curiosity, strengths, and possibility.
Creativity is not a distraction from education – it can be the pathway back into it.
We're incredibly grateful to The BRIT Trust for believing in that vision. Their funding will help us continue providing high-quality, inclusive music opportunities for young people who might otherwise never have access to them. It means we can keep opening our doors to those who need somewhere to belong, somewhere to grow and somewhere to discover what they're capable of.
The music industry celebrates incredible artists, unforgettable performances and chart success – and rightly so. But music's greatest achievement may be something quieter….
It is the confidence to speak after months of silence.
The courage to perform after years of believing you couldn't.
The friendship formed through a shared rhythm.
The young person who begins to imagine a future they never thought possible.
Those are the moments we witness every day at Performing Room. They remind us that music doesn't just change lives – it helps people discover that they can change their own.
And there is no greater privilege than being part of that journey.
To learn more about the work of The Performing Room, visit www.performingroom.org