Ed Sheeran often visits schools to speak about the importance of music education and now he’s putting his money where his mouth is: He’s established the Ed Sheeran Foundation to help kids not only learn how to play music, but also gain the skills they’d need to enter the music industry in other capacities.

He wrote in an Instagram post, “I set up @edsheeranfnd because recently there’s been less and less importance being put on music education. Even when I was in school it was seen as a ‘doss subject’ and not taken seriously. There’s a misconception that it’s ’not a real job’ – when the music industry accounts for 216,000 jobs in so many different fields, and bringing as much as £7.6 billion in a year to the UK economy. Not to mention the power our art has worldwide to bring joy to people.”

He continues, “It’s something we should be proud of and championing in the UK, not sweeping under the rug and pretending we are just bankers (no offence to bankers obvz). 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.”

Ed goes on to say that through the foundation, he wants “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.”  

“Music is such a key part of our society,” he adds, saying that the more he travels, the more he sees people who are being “undervalued and underserved. I’m hoping this foundation is a start to giving them the support they need to keep going, and show them they are hugely important to us.”

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