British Music Right supported the Music Manifesto's State of Play conference, which took place on January 16th and 17th 2007 at The Roundhouse in North London. The two day festival-style conference celebrated the achievements of the music education workforce, built on the successes of the Music Manifesto so far, and called delegates and Manifesto signatories to act on the challenges still faced.

What is the Music Manifesto Challenge for the 21st Century?

The Music Manifesto is a shared strategy and set of priorities for young people's music education. The challenge is how to make improvements and provide greater opportunities for children and young people to develop their creative potential through music.

The Music Manifesto is intended to be an interactive resource owned by all those who sign up to it. At the heart of the Music Manifesto is a determination that everyone involved in music education should work together to deliver musical opportunities for young people. State of Play was intended to bring the Music Manifesto to life.

State of Play aimed to inform, stimulate, challenge and provoke through a series of discussions, performances, workshops and debates. It was a landmark exploration of the key issues and a celebration of effective practice in music education, focusing on the three main themes emerging in the second Music Manifesto report, published in October:

• Making every child's music matter
• Creating a framework for provision with the child at its centre
• Using the transformative power of music to change lives

Delegates attended from across the board - from musicians and teachers to policy makers and leaders from the arts and creative industries.

Plenary sessions and discussions included:

• Keynote speeches from Alan Johnson MP, Secretary of State for Education and Skills and Sir Ken Robinson
• Music and A Child's Development - with Naomi Eisenstadt (Chief Advisor to the Secretary of State on Children) and Howard Goodall
• The Transformative Power of Music chaired by Jon Snow, with Camila Batmanghelidjh (Kids Company) and young people from Kinetika
• Question time on the Music Manifesto recommendations chaired by Krishnan Guru-Murthy, with Marc Jaffrey (Music Manifesto Champion), Christina Coker (Youth Music) and Tony Howell (Director of Birmingham Children's Services)
• Performance with South African trumpeter and figurehead Hugh Masekela, Jazz Jamaica All Stars and young singers
• Nurturing Creativity in Young People - Improvement and Development Agency
• Supporting the Creative Industries with Tony Hall (CCS and Royal Opera House) and Estelle Morris.
• The Abram Wilson sessions - Trumpeter Abram will interview four prominent musicians about their own musical pathways.

The Forum
This space played host to a series of debates on key subjects arising from the Arena programme. Contributors included Julian Lloyd Webber and Richard Morris (Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music).

Learning Lab
Workshops where delegates could learn new musical skills or refresh existing ones.

Listening Lab
Provided an opportunity to learn through listening to particular case studies. Examples included a look at different musical pathways with contributions from leading cellist Matthew Barley and BBC Radio New Generation Artist Gwilym Simcock.

Experience Exchange
Practitioner-led sessions where delegates had the opportunity to swap experiences and share successes and challenges.

The Creator's Bedroom
Enabled delegates to enter the young person's musical nerve-centre and explore issues around personalisation and emerging technologies with opportunities to experiment in the Roundhouse New Media labs.

The Music Clinic
Industry experts were on hand to inform young people about progression paths and potential career routes.

Delegates were also offered the chance to sing rousing South African freedom songs with Hugh Masekela and Jazz Jamaica All Stars.

For more information about State of Play please visit: http://www.musicmanifesto.co.uk