FUTURE YARD + UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL

IMPROVING CREATIVE CAREER OPPORTUNITIES FOR LIVERPOOL STUDENTS

Future Yard and the University of Liverpool’s School of the Arts are expanding their partnership for 2026/27, developing new opportunities for students to connect with live music and the creative industries.

Future Yard is a nationally recognised live music venue and artist-development hub, supporting emerging talent and strengthening the future of the UK music sector. The University of Liverpool’s School of the Arts brings together teaching and research across music, architecture, media, and other creative subjects. Together, the two organisations create opportunities for students to put their learning into practice while contributing to the future of the region’s creative sector.

Future Yard and the University of Liverpool have been working together since 2020, supporting students through placements, research projects, year-in-industry roles and the venue’s Sound Check training programme, as well as welcoming dozens of students onto the Future Yard stage. Students have worked across a range of areas including live programming, marketing and communications, neighbourhood and partnerships, and technical production. Since 2020, 10 undergraduate students have completed placements with Future Yard, and last year, seven students gained valuable industry experience through the Sound Check programme.

Several students from these programmes and placements have since gone on to work at Future Yard, highlighting the success of the partnership.

Through the partnership, Future Yard will continue to provide industry experience and training, but this year students will also have the opportunity to experience live music and culture right on their doorstep, with free tickets available to gigs and other events throughout the year, plus a number of free tickets available to university staff.

There will also be places available on Future Yard’s artist development programme, Propeller. The programme combines mentoring, workshops, live opportunities and industry support to help artists develop their live shows, grow audiences, strengthen professional assets and build momentum around their projects.

Future Yard’s Director of Audiences, Christopher Torpey, said:

“We’re delighted to be strengthening this partnership further, after many great years of collaboration. The University of Liverpool is not only an internationally renowned academic leader, it is an anchor institution for the whole of the Liverpool City Region; partnership at this level is vital for the sector and for the students, showing real world opportunities for music making and careers that sit alongside academic work. At Future Yard, we look forward to welcoming placement students into the building each year as they bring a burst of new energy and fresh ideas.”

Peter Buse, Dean of the School of the Arts, said:

“It’s a great moment to scale up the partnership we’ve been building with Future Yard, by significantly increasing the number of workplace opportunities for our students and encouraging more of our staff and students to make the short trip to Birkenhead to take in fantastic live music at this pioneering venue. Future Yard is an inspiring partner for the University and already plays an important part in our multi-million-pound Music Futures initiative. We can’t wait to hear about our students’ experiences with them in the coming years.”

Future Yard and the University of Liverpool’s School of the Arts are looking forward to creating even more opportunities for students to gain real-world experience, discover new music and build careers in the live music industry.