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Sheeran started writing songs from a young age, after
encouragement from a teacher, and says he wants to help plug the
gap left by reduced arts funding. To support the launch of the
foundation, the Grammy-winner is visiting schools and youth
groups in Cardiff, Coventry, Edinburgh and Belfast.
Addressing a group of pupils in Wales on Thursday, alongside his
songwriting partner Amy Wadge, Sheeran said that music should be
treated as a legitimate career option.
“Britain has this sort of thing where it’s pushing people
towards being bankers or like working in tech or finance or like
all this sort of stuff,” said Sheeran.
“We’ve basically just come here today being like, We’ve done it.
We both came from state school education and all that takes is
you guys having confidence built in you by the teachers around
you,” he added.
Sheeran has a special connection with Wales: as a teenager, he
visited Wadge in the Welsh capital, Cardiff, to work on his
songs, an experience he described as a “key stage” of his life.
He treated pupils to a performance of one of his biggest hits,
“Shape of You” and also duetted with young musicians at a
Cardiff youth group.
So far the Ed Sheeran Foundation says it has supported 18
grassroots music education organizations or state school music
departments, which will improve access to instruments and
lessons for 12,000 children.
The organization says it also aims to advocate for the
“essential role” of music teachers and the way music can
transform the lives of young people.
In an Instagram post about the initiative, Sheeran says he wants
children to benefit from music education, just as he did.
“It was incredible for my mental health as a kid, feeling a
sense of purpose and achievement, even just learning piano or
cello at a young age way before songwriting. I want kids to be
able to learn instruments, learn production and songwriting,
performing, and have apprenticeship schemes help them learn
different skills to enter the industry.”
Sheeran also underlines the amount of people employed in the
music industry, aside from the onstage talent, adding that 150
people work on his tour.
A report by UK Music said 216,000 people in the U.K. were
employed in the music industry in 2023.
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