The fourth annual Drake YolanDa Awards have announced applications are open for emerging artists between ages 16-30.
Founded by YolanDa Brown OBE and James ‘JP’ Drake, the cash prizes are presented to emerging musicians to enable them to showcase their talent and assist them in taking their career to the next level. Ten promising artists will receive a cash award of £3,000 each to help support their artistic development in areas including touring, recording new music, music videos, marketing, branding, and purchasing new equipment.
The Drake YolanDa Award has supported the journey of over 60 emerging artists since 2019 all over the UK. With over £100,000 of investment, 80% of the grants were awarded to women, 97% had never received a grant before, and 65% of the applicants were from outside the London area.
The Drake YolanDa Award celebrates the rich and diverse nature of the UK music scenes, welcoming applicants from all genres. They are specifically looking for independent artists that need support and currently do not have backing from major record labels or publishers. The application deadline is September 4 at 12 pm. Once the application period closes, a team of leading music industry figures will narrow the selection to ten shortlisted artists.
Some of the previous recipients of this award include singer-songwriter Jerub, singer and guitarist Rosie Frater Taylor, songstress BEKA, and trumpet master Ife Ogunjobi of the Ezra Collective.
“Four years into this award with over 60 artists as alumni and we continue to be blown away by the impact it has on the careers of these unique, genre-bending artists,” adds YolanDa Brown.
“One of the biggest barriers to most creatives is access to finance and we are pleased to be able to answer that call for these artists and play a part of their evolving journeys at a critical stage—we only wish we had the capacity to support more artists.”