Yorkshire-wide music artist development programme since 2015
Originally funded by Help Musicians UK with match funding from Arts Council England, Breakthrough is our intensive artist development programme. It has supported some of Yorkshire’s most talented original music artists (of many diverse genres) to grow sustainable music careers.
Breakthrough provides free expert support which includes recording, live festival showcases, music releases, master-classes, radio sessions and professional mentoring, supporting the artists selected for the programme, intensively over a full year.
To select artists, we run annual calls, working with industry experts from festivals, radio, record labels and management. We score submissions under: musicianship, professional / online presence, and overall impact, also considering which artists would benefit most from the support.
Mentoring is a valuable aspect of the programme, but we also provide practical support to artist’s with free access to our own recording studios, radio station, music distribution and event promotions.
We have supported 100’s of regional artists through Breakthrough, with programme participants achieving successes such as:
We work with artists to better understand the financial / wider implications of their activities. This covers areas such as touring, releasing, marketing / PR, record deals and taxation. Additionally, we support artists to build skills around managing investment, including securing grant funding. The music business support received through Breakthrough enables musicians to operate as more effective industry professionals and micro enterprises.
Breakthrough has been a diverse programme. To date, 53% of participants were aged 18-24 and 47% were 25-35. Artists identified 50% male, 48% female and 2% other, also including 17% black and ethnic minority artists.
Breakthrough is a truly inclusive programme and we strongly believe that place shouldn’t be a barrier to accessing the music industry. Breakthrough therefore levels the playing-field with 53% of artists coming from towns and villages, alongside 47% from cities / cultural-industry hot-spots.
Breakthrough has featured in UK Music publications and been discussed in Parliamentary debate, describing the programme as a “regional asset, which helps artists tangibly progress in their careers”.
Starting out as a young artist in various bands recording at Higher Rhythm, Skinny Pelembe graduated from the Breakthrough programme in 2016. Success followed, signing with Brownswood Recordings, playing sell out tours and festivals, and, being championed by BBC Radio’s Lauren Laverne, Mary Ann Hobbs and Giles Peterson (to name just a few…). He is now signed to Partisan records and is a regular at major music festivals.
Skinny still records his music at Higher Rhythm Recording Studio including his debut album in 2019 which was album of the week on BBC Radio 6.
LIO (Now performing under the name of Luxury Goods) an alt-pop band fronted by Leonie Sloots from Sheffield, and were selected for our Breakthrough Artist Development Programme in 2019. Having enjoyed festival appearances at Outlines, Tramlines, and Y Not Festival and radio play on Amazing Radio and BBC Introducing.
Leonie, the front woman, also progressed to lead on the Breakthrough programme, supporting artists as a project worker at Higher Rhythm.
Bi:Lingual, fronted by the energetic Dylan Cartlidge, were a band that took the phrase ‘power trio’ to a whole new level… They won a place on our first Help Musicians UK and Arts Council funded pilot year of the Breakthrough Artist Development Programme, and took the roof off Maida Vale when they played live at our artist showcase event.
Frontman Dylan, is excelling as a music artist, signing with Universal and definitely being another one to watch.
Zimbabwean born, Singer-songwriter Rumbi Tauro is an R&B/Soul artist. Rumbi was born in Marondera, Zimbabwe and lived there with her parents up until the age of four. In 2002, her parents decided to relocate to Doncaster.
Joining our PRS Foundation talent development programme then moving onto a Breakthrough program, Rumbi started to craft her lyrics, resulting in her debut EP The Process released just 6 months later. Rumbi has been listed as one of the upcoming black artists to watch by BBC Introducing.
Born in Zambia, raised in the UK, British musician August Charles’ musical tastes and talents have evolved over many years. August progressed from our PRS Foundation TDP artist programme, onto Breakthrough and after releasing two singles as part of these programmes, we supported August to secure funding from HMUK.
August now has a string of releases, professional artist representation and has continually appeared at major festivals, as well as supporting artists such as Nile Rogers’ Chic, Emeli Sandé, and Rag ‘N’ Bone Man.
Joe Russell-Brown, a singer songwriter from Scunthorpe, was selected for our Breakthrough Artist Development Programme in 2018. Joe developed as an artist, turning out a self-recorded EP with a fair label of ‘lo-fi dream pop anthems’ being attached, and gathering a list of 9k fans, playing gigs across the region and selling his music in 62 countries.
Joe now heads up the PRS Foundation TDP programme at Higher Rhythm supporting artists as a project worker. His current artist incarnation, , is now gathering popularity with appearances at music festivals and popular releases.
