For over 30 years, Drake Music has been working it the intersection of music, technology and Disability enabling more people to make music. Central to our work is the belief that everyone can fulfil their creative and musical potential, given the right opportunities. We are Disabled-led and work with Disabled people of all ages, from school children having their first instrumental lessons to professional Disabled musicians. We want to create a world where Disabled and non-Disabled people can make music together as equals. 

We’re a national arts charity working across England and Wales and as a National Portfolio Organisation for Arts Council England as such are recognised as a key part of the UK creative arts community.

Our work falls into three strands:

Research & Innovation

Our pioneering R&I programme spans a broad range of work, from developing new instruments and technololgy ourselves, to supporting a community of instrument developers to build the next generation of instruments. We work with the music tech industry to help make commercial products and instruments more accessible, and with academia to ensure that we are engaged with the very latest cutting edge research in our sector.

Recent examples of our work include the Sony Accessible Instrument Hackathon, Orchlab and our long-running DMLab programme

Artist development

We support Disabled musicians in a variety of ways across their careers, including commissioning work, offering residencies and providing training, mentoring and career development opportunities through the Drake Music Collective. We are also commmited to supporting a new generation of Disabled workshop leaders though our Future Leaders programme.

Learning & Participation

We deliver participatory workshops & training for music leaders using inclusive practice & bespoke/adapted technology & instruments. One example of this is a 5-year programme of workforce development that we delivered in partnership with Kawasaki City and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.

You can find out more about us at DrakeMusic.org