The Art Council´s Take It Away scheme went live last July, giving musicians a chance to buy instruments with the help of an interest-free loan. And the impressive numbers of UK musicians who´ve taken them up on the offer are just in.
Anyone over 18 can apply for a loan of up to £2000 for musical instruments, and pay that back in nine monthly instalments, paying just a 10% deposit upfront.
The option is open to buy any instrument you want, as well as sheet music, stools, extra equipment and even sometimes tuition. You can find a list of participating stores online, most of which are independent music stores which, incidentally, also benefit from the offer, with over half the stores involved having increased sales of £1000 or more.
So far over £5.4m of instruments have been bought through the scheme, by 8000 people, 14% of whom bought percussion - meaning we can look forward to a slew of great new drumming talent in the years to come thanks to the scheme.
Margaret Hodge, Minister for the Arts, says: “Playing music can have a really positive impact on people´s lives, especially young people, helping to build confidence, develop creativity and most of all sheer pleasure.”
For more information on the Take It Away scheme visit the website, which features a list of participating stores, clips of musicians playing the instruments they´ve bought through the scheme, an events page and an address for you to email feedback to if you´ve been helped by the scheme.
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