Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust (NMPAT) has been delivering music and artistic education and ensemble opportunities for the children and young people of the county for over 50 years, first as a Local Authority Music Service, originally known as Northampton Music School, and, since 2012, as an independent charitable company and lead partner of the county's Music Education Hub. We receive no income from the Local Authority.

Why the community needs us
We enable over 20 county ensembles - orchestras, brass, wind & jazz bands, choirs, chamber ensembles, world music groups & a Youth Theatre; 12 Saturday morning music centres with an open access policy to enable any student to gain first experiences; our Early Years programme, Little Stars, provides practical music making for children aged 0 - years; NMPAT Contemporary enables students to join with others to form bands & performing contemporary genres; Reach the Stars works with and for young people with SEND; our Youth Music Funded musical inclusion programme, Industrious, delivers with and for children and young people in challenging circumstances; and the Trust maintains educational contact with every state school in the county & many private establishments, tertiary colleges & early years centres.

Our impact on the community
Last year, NMPAT enabled over 53,000 children to engage & play a musical instrument; nearly every primary school hosted a First Access project, with every child in a year group having opportunities to play a musical instrument, or have tuition. There are currently almost 1,000 young people that are members of auditioned county music groups, travelling from across the county & rehearsing weekly at our Kettering Road Centre. Our senior music groups are highly regarded nationally & among the most successful in the country.

NMPAT's core values are to inspire, nurture and excel - delivering music and performing arts opportunities for children, young people and communities of Northamptonshire.