From Policy to Practice

Building Sustainable Support Through Funders, Education & Institutions

The music industry thrives on creativity, but creativity alone cannot guarantee sustainability. Artists face unprecedented pressures — financial uncertainty, relentless public scrutiny, and the constant demand to perform, create, and manage their careers simultaneously. If we want a healthy, long-term ecosystem, we must go beyond individual support and embed coaching into the infrastructure itself.

This isn’t about adding a “nice-to-have” layer. It’s about creating systems where resilience, clarity, and confidence are built into the industry, from education and funding to policy and institutional support.

Why Coaching Must Be Infrastructure

Consider sports: athletes at elite levels have mental skills coaches, physiotherapists, and nutritionists as standard, not optional. In business, leadership coaching is a line item in budgets.

In music, coaching is still treated as discretionary — dependent on budget, awareness, or luck. The consequences are tangible: lost talent, stalled careers, and unnecessary pressure on artists, managers, and teams alike.

Embedding coaching into the core systems of the industry ensures that resilience and creative capacity are no longer optional, but standard.

The Role of Funders

Funders hold a unique lever for systemic change: criteria. By making coaching required or incentivised in grant applications, you create immediate impact:

  • Artists can include coaching in their budgets.
  • Managers and labels are encouraged to integrate coaching support.
  • The industry begins to normalise structured support, signalling its importance.

Small policy shifts in funding create ripple effects that strengthen the ecosystem across the board.

The Role of Education & Training

Music colleges and development programs prepare artists for technical and creative challenges, but often leave them unprepared for mental, emotional, and strategic demands of a real-world career.

Integrating coaching into education ensures that graduates step into the industry with:

  • Mindset tools to navigate uncertainty and setbacks.
  • Decision-making skills aligned with their creative vision.
  • Resilience strategies to sustain long-term careers.

This approach turns talented individuals into ready-to-thrive professionals, rather than artists who are simply “lucky” if they survive their first tour or release.

The Role of Policy

Policy sets cultural norms. Recognising coaching as cultural infrastructure signals that the wellbeing and development of artists is essential, not optional.

When policy prioritises coaching:

  • Funders and institutions follow suit.
  • Managers, labels, and artists understand its legitimacy.
  • The industry begins to shift from reactive support to proactive, structured development.

Policy is the bridge between idea and implementation — the mechanism through which coaching becomes expected, budgeted, and measurable.

Practical Steps for Funders, Educators & Policy Makers

  1. Funders: include coaching as a requirement or incentive in grants and awards.
  2. Educators: integrate coaching sessions into core training, not just workshops.
  3. Policy Makers: formalise coaching as infrastructure, supporting long-term sustainability.
  4. Collaboration: encourage partnerships between coaches, development programs, and institutions to share best practices.

Even incremental steps build momentum that scales across the industry.

Evidence from the Field

“Basil is truly one of a kind… Today’s music creators require rounded support — covering creative development, resilience, mindset, and enhancing performance in all areas. I encourage companies and organisations… to work with Basil in ways which will massively impact creators they work with.”
— Joe Frankland, CEO, PRS Foundation

Institutional adoption of coaching creates measurable outcomes: higher retention, stronger creative output, and healthier careers. It transforms coaching from an optional extra into a strategic, systemic tool.

A Call to Action

Funders, educators, and policymakers — the industry’s future depends on the structures you create today:

  • Make coaching eligible and incentivised in grants.
  • Embed coaching in education and professional development programs.
  • Treat coaching as core infrastructure, not a luxury.

When the system prioritises coaching, the benefits ripple outward: artists thrive, managers and labels operate more effectively, and the music industry grows more sustainable, resilient, and impactful.