It will come as no surprise that as the end of the 2020 edges ever closer everyone here at Plymouth Music Zone is still very much missing the sights and sounds of people making music, seeing everyone’s faces and catching up week on week with each and every one of you.

As I’m sure you’ll understand, in light of the ongoing Coronavirus situation and current tier level here in Plymouth, PMZ will be extending the period of closure of our building to the public and the cancellation of all regular face-to-face music making workshops now until 2021. This will of course continue to be reviewed by PMZ’s Leadership Team on an ongoing basis. When changes can be made, we will be the first to make them and be back in touch to update you all.

In the meantime, the PMZ team still very much remain here! Thank you to everyone who has been keeping in touch, supporting us and continuing to work alongside us. This continues to be an inspiring and uplifting experience keeping in touch with so many of you. Everyone here at PMZ is still dedicated to using these restrictions as opportunities to explore and develop new ways of working through our Extraordinary Times Programme that aim to keep us connected, making and exploring music together even though we are still apart.

All of our staff continue to work remotely from home continuing the vision of what we set out to achieve at the start of the pandemic, harnessing the dedication of our team whilst preserving as much of its full strength and security as possible. To continue to support and demonstrate our full commitment to our team’s wellbeing we are planning to engage the following practice:

For the foreseeable future PMZ will continue to respect and support all current staff pay and conditions. This includes a mixture of flexible furlough and working conditions to provide them with much-needed space to look after themselves and those they care for during these challenging and unprecedented times.

PMZ’s Extraordinary Times Programme will continue to keep as many of our PMZ communities connected, engaged and supported as possible. We want this programme and our activities to carry on being a meaningful way for us to connect to as many of you as it possibly can. We’re currently offering lots of different ways for everyone to get involved. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you want to get involved, have a suggestion of something new or even to share with us how we can be even better at all of this.

On PMZ’s Wellbeing Wednesdays we will continue to share useful and related resources with you every week. You can follow and look for this as well as all things Extraordinary Times on PMZ’s social media channels and website.

Finally, in keeping communication channels clear and strong, PMZ’s core hours during working hours will continue to stay at 10am to 5pm. Over the holiday and New Year PMZ staff will be taking a break from Monday 21 December for two weeks until Monday 4 January. During this time please still feel free to contact us by email or social media, but you may need to wait for a reply. We will respond to you soon as possible when we return in the New Year.

As with so many arts organisations and charities, Plymouth Music Zone’s income and funding has inevitably been impacted by this crisis. We are working very hard to sustain the charity ensuring we can all still be able to use music to make a difference for a very long time to come. Of course, we cannot do that without the support of our key funders and all those who choose to donate to the charity.

We are deeply thankful for all and any continued support and donations through our Just Giving page.

We hope you all continue to stay safe. The whole team here at PMZ wanted to take this final opportunity to wish you all the happiest of holidays and a refreshed and positive at start to the New Year! Looking forward to catching up with each and every one of you very soon and of course continue to make a difference with the arts and music in 2021.

Take care. Many thanks and the very best of wishes,

The PMZ Leadership Team (Anna, Karl and Glyn)