Guidance

Running a leisure-time music group can be time-consuming. Getting bogged down in the small details and immediate issues, you can occasionally forget to look at the bigger picture. Creating a strategic plan will help you keep an eye on the overall picture, and provide a framework for dealing with those day-to-day details.

What are the key elements of a strategic plan?

What is succession planning?

It is the process of preparing for someone to take over a role from another person, making the transition as smooth as possible, and having a plan for emergency cover should a role suddenly become vacant. There are three key aspects to succession planning:

A key part of your responsibilities under GDPR is to provide easily-understandable and accessible information to individuals at the point at which you are collecting their data - these are called privacy statements.

This guidance looks at data retention in relation to the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).  You can find out more about GDPR in our GDPR toolkit, including a template Data Protection and Retention Policy. 

We have developed a template Data Protection and Retention policy for use by our member groups. It has been designed in line with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and can be used as it is - with just your specific details (e.g. group name) added in, or taken as a starting point with changes made to suit your specific activities and circumstance.

If you spend a lot of time managing event bookings via phone and email instead of organising other areas of your events, then using an online ticketing service might be just want you need.

Ticketing websites have never been more user-friendly and they can help your group save time, money, and sell more tickets. The initial setup can be slightly time-consuming but once you are up and running, the positives far outweigh the negatives…

This audit tool is part of our GDPR toolkit. It is intended to help you think about the questions you need to ask about the data your group holds, asks for and uses, to help you meet your data protection responsibilities.

How to use the audit tool

GDPR is a meaty topic with lots of information, not all of which will be relevant to you. This tool is designed to help you filter the information to what is relevant for your group.

Data protection is becoming an increasingly prominent issue. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in May 2018 tightened up the data laws and led to the Data Protection Act 2018, getting a fair bit of media attention in the process.

The new rules can appear complex, hard to apply and perhaps a bit restrictive. For leisure-time music groups though, it’s mostly about common sense and simple reasonable measures to make sure you are using the data you hold in a fair, reasonable and secure way. 

Learn To Play is a free annual national event organised by the UK charity Music for All, to inspire new and lapsed musicians to engage in music-making.

The next Learn To Play event will be in autumn 2025.

Music for All's annual flagship event, Learn to Play is the biggest free music-making weekend of the year. Running now for over a decade, it aims to inspire, encourage and enable music-making. It connects and champions UK music providers such as community groups, retail music shops and music teachers through a shared celebration.