AMIC will be a comprehensive physical and online collection of accessible musical instruments, technology, equipment and expertise, housed in a dedicated space, and available for people to visit and explore.

Physical Collection:

In-person visits will be facilitated by an expert member of the DM team who will be able to guide visitors through all the instruments and kit in the collection, try out the available options and find out what really works.  

Our doors will be open not only to Disabled musicians, but also to parents, educators, instrument builders, researchers and anyone else who has an interest in this area.  By concentrating instruments and expertise in one place, we aim to provide a resource that can radically change what’s available to Disabled people whatever stage they’re at as a musician and whatever their access needs. Once the core collection is established, we intend to open access up as far as possible by working with partner organisations to build satellite collections in as many places as we can. 

Online Collection:

Not everyone will be able to visit the collection in person, and there are many situations where that won’t be necessary. To facilitate remote access, the online collection will have as much information about each of the instruments as we can gather, including images, videos of them in use as well as accessibility information, repertoire and technical info. Where the instruments are bespoke or made as part of a research project, and we have permission from the developers, we will share the source code, design files and instructions for building them. It’s not enough that the instruments exist; the musicians that need them must be able to have them. We will work hard to find new ways to make instruments and equipment of all types available at an affordable price. 

Instrument Development Programme:

We know that there are many people who won’t find something that works perfectly for them, so we will also have an instrument development and adaptation programme. This will mean that we can develop the next generation of accessible instruments based on the needs of visitors to the collection to build a continuous virtuous cycle of sharing and development. 

Research Programme:

AMIC will also be a research programme, working in partnership with some of the world’s leading Universities and commercial organsiations. We will answer important questions about the current range of accessible instruments, who needs them and who has access to them. We will also try to identify and build the next generation of accessible instruments, filling the gaps that visitors to the collection identify. 

Creative Community:

Making music is at the heart of everything we do, so we will have performance and workshop spaces as well as studio facilities to make sure that our community can make and share the amazing music that they create.