Manchester, December 14th - Huawei is funding a community project at Chetham's School of Music involving more than 1,000 primary schoolchildren as part of a new corporate commitment to backing the arts in the UK.
Chetham's is the UK's largest music school, providing a world-class musical and academic education to more than 300 of the country's finest young musicians, aged 8-18. Huawei will support Chetham's major outreach programme, which aims to widen access to musical provision to young people across the region and the UK.
Huawei will also be supporting scholarships and bursaries at the Royal College of Music in London from next year.
Victor Zhang, Huawei Vice President, said: "I'm delighted to be able to announce our support for Chetham's School of Music in Manchester and the Royal College of Music in London. Music, like technology, is about inspiration, creativity and passion. It is more vital than ever that young people are able to experience this and reach their potential.
"The pandemic has been especially challenging for children across the UK, and doubly so far those who have been left isolated and disconnected by a move to remote learning. Businesses like Huawei must embrace the opportunity to inspire talent, and we are fully committed to continuing to invest in young people all across the UK."
Today's announcement marks Huawei's first partnership into the UK arts and follows a series of academic partnerships in science and technology.
Huawei support for Chetham's will enable the music school to work with one primary school in each of the ten Greater Manchester boroughs throughout 2022. Huawei's Royal College of Music sponsorship involves the funding of four scholarships and three bursaries at the world-renowned school in 2022.
Throughout the project, Huawei will have the opportunity to provide expertise and equipment to support children's learning.
Tom Redmond, Artistic Director and Joint Principal of Chetham's School of Music, said: "We're so grateful to Huawei for supporting this project which will enable us to provide free access to music for schools, families, and communities across Greater Manchester. This is important, life changing work. Projects like this support our charitable mission at Chetham's, to share the magic of music and learning with as many people as possible."
The donations were announced today ahead of Huawei's 3rd annual Winter Concert in partnership with children's charity, the NSPCC.
For the first time, this year's event, "Winter Harmonies - A Celebration of Music" will take place at both the Royal College of Music in London and the Chetham's School of Music in Manchester simultaneously.
The two venues will be linked through technology so audiences in London and Manchester will be able to listen to VIP speeches and ensembles of music from students at both colleges.
Mr Zhang added: "I am very pleased that yet again our Winter Concert is being organised in aid of NSPCC - one of the most respected children's charities in the UK. At Huawei, we share the NSPCC's ambition to help to change young people's lives for the better."
These donations end a year that began with the donation of 250 specially created pupil packs to schools across the North-West in collaboration with the Greater Manchester Tech Fund, aimed at tackling the challenges of attending school from home during lockdown. Schools in Bury, Bolton, Wigan and Manchester all benefited.
That was followed up over the summer with the donation of 120 refurbished laptops to organisations that support children and young adults, facilitated by PCRefurb and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
Huawei's partnership with the NSPCC began in 2019 and was marked by the first Winter Concert in support of the charity.