AN ambitious Preston-based project which hopes to create the pop stars of tomorrow by giving them cash today has won the backing of Simply Red star Mick Hucknall.

The Music Maker programme, based in Winckley Square, is offering up to £30,000 a year for the next two years to people it sees as potential 'music makers' - those with skills to pass on to budding Robbie Williams and Mel Cs.

Teachers, musicians and youth and community workers are all being invited to apply for cash from the Music Maker pot.

The project is the first funding programme to be set up by the National Foundation for Youth Music since its inception in April.

It will hopefully create musical opportunities for local youngsters whose talent would otherwise go unnoticed.

And singer Mick Hucknall, who has spent the past 15 years recording top selling singles and albums, has thrown his weight behind the project, describing it 'as essential for the future of British Music'.

He said: "Music Maker is a fantastic way of getting funding for music right into the heart of the communities that need it most.

"Programmes like this help to nurture the next generation of musicians."

And Chris Smith, the Minister for Culture, Media and Sport, and the man who created the National Foundation for Youth Music, added: "Music Maker is a great idea.

"I urge anyone out there, working hard to change children's lives for the better through music, to grasp the opportunities this programme has to offer."

National Foundation for Youth Music chief executive Christina Coker said: "Music Maker is the first of a number of programmes we are developing which will come on stream during the Year 2000."

For more information contact the Music Maker Programme, PO Box 214, 35 Winckley Square, Preston, PR1 3GJ.

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