'Giving Back' continued.. Authorities can also provide finance, always a problem for outreach departments, which will receive subsistence for personnel and administration from their colleges but after that are on their own. The Guildhall department is regrouping after the funding for its Simply Connect programme came to an end; and as Andrea Spain says: 'It's easy to find start up funding. But after that you have to look elsewhere.'

Among the college students themselves, interest in community work has increased substantially in recent years. At The Royal Welsh School of Music and Drama outreach department, which works mainly with schools, coordinator Sarah Horner has seen the enthusiasm the department provokes. 'Once our students experience this kind of work they're very keen to do more of it. It's becoming a core part of what the college does.'

For Hayley Clements at the Royal College of Music RCM), the ‘huge amount of enthusiasm' she encounters amongst the students is presenting challenges of its own.'It's becoming harder to come up with enough projects to meet the interest of students. For our summer schools I needed 20 students as assistants, and I had more than 70 applications.'
Clements sees outreach as an essential part of college life. For many students it is no longer optional.

At the RCM from next September outreach modules will be a compulsory part of the undergraduate second-year curriculum. The RSAMD and Guildhall already have compulsory outreach in their undergraduate courses and Trinity has mandatory professional skill training for all four years.
‘These courses are about the skills that young people need when they leave college,' says Robert Wells at the Guildhall. ‘Nowadays they will have a portfolio career. They will need it financially and they will find rewarding.' Hayley Clements at the RCM tells her students that outreach is work essential. ‘They will do it because they enjoy it but also because they will have to do it in the future. Even if they just want to play in an orchestra it will look good their CV that they have done this work while they were at college.'
For John Barber at the RAM the perception of community work as part of a career plan is not enough. ‘Looking at education work just as something which students will have to do to earn a living is very negative. Creative education work is inspiring and enjoyable. It is musical at a very fundamental level.'