SAVE THE NEWARK SCHOOLS OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENT CRAFT

The Newark Schools of Musical Instrument Making have served British music for more than fifty years. They are now under threat of closure. You are their only hope.

Save the Newark Schools of Musical Instrument Craft

Save the Newark Schools of Musical Instrument Craft

Thank you to The Guardian for such an important article.

We won’t close if we pull together and fight with the remarkable passion we have already put into to saving the school, but we must stick together - our strength will save the Newark Schools of Musical Instrument Craft.

“Newark is a wonderful meeting point of musicians and music instrument makers/restorers. The Music Instrument Craft courses are woven into the fabric of the town and the world of music beyond. These unique courses give students highly regarded skills to go out into the workforce. We will be working alongside the college to ensure that the international reputation is not only maintained but grows…”

Cllr. Claire Penny Portfolio Holder Sustainable Economic Development
and Cllr. Rowan Cozens Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Culture Heritage and the Arts
Newark and Sherwood District Council

The Rt. Hon. Robert Jenrick MP, 3 July 2017.

“I support the violin school wholeheartedly. It is one of the unexpected and wonderful institutions that make Newark special. We mustn’t allow it’s hard won international reputation to be casually lost.”

In less than ten days we reached over 10,000 signatures on Change.org.

Watch this space: As our campaign moves into the next phase we will be depending on your support for a Parliamentary petition to address the new issues that arise.

We expect a statement from The Lincoln College Group around 19-20 May.
This will determine our next strategy.

Newark School of Violin Making:
The First 50 Years | 1972-2022

Read the history of the violin making school’s first half-century. A free digital copy of the book written my Helen Michetschlager it is available to buy from www.lutherieuk.org but i is available for free on line right here.

.Join the Alumni & Friends of the Newark Musical Instrument Making Schools

You are welcome to join the group as an alumni, as a friend, as a local business, a musician or even as someone who just loves that music exists. We particularly welcome people from Newark and nearby who are simply passionate about their home town. Perhaps your interest is the craft and art. We really don’t mind. If you're passionate about what we do and passionate about saving the Newark Schools of Musical Instrument Craft, then you are a part of our growing community.

Join the global #SaveNewarkChallenge on Instagram.

Join fellow luthiers, musicians, local businesses, friends, alumni and other craftspeople and artists in our global community. If you want to show your support follow the trend..

View fullsize With so much talk of elitism in the classical music world, this is the every day work of dozens of Newark graduates, making musical instruments playable so that children have the best opportunities and access to music. Without their work, it's hard t
View fullsize For so many alumni of the school, Charles Beare was like a grandfather. In 1987 when he curated the most incredible return of Stradivari violins for an exhibition in Cremona he paid the flights for every student that wanted to go from his own pocket
View fullsize We are very saddened to hear of the death of a very beloved alumnus of the School of Violin Making, who returned to France to become a titan of violin making in his native country. Rest in Peace Patrick, the world is richer for your contributions to
View fullsize My name is Helen Michetschläger. I learnt my craft at Newark in the 1970s and have been grateful ever since for the opportunity for a life spent in the wonderful world of instruments and musicians. More recently, I’ve become involved in or
View fullsize Hi all, I’m Chris Beament, I run the Cambridge Violin Makers workshop. We are a violin making school for amateurs and also a general violin shop where we carry out repairs and restorations, sell instruments, bows and so on. Although I did not t
View fullsize Brainah Kanneh-Mason gave some exceptional words of support. His family grew up playing instruments made by the Newark alumni. Here he is speaking to BBC Radio Nottingham: “Such a chain reaction, if you have globally respected institution like
View fullsize GH Porter Provisions, established in 1890, was Newark's local butcher until its unfortunate closure in 2023. However, they reopened on the market square late last year and are still a firm favourite of students. Lovely to have the support of another
View fullsize This is what teaching the cello is like, with endless instruments that need constant maintenance from people who know how. Ethan Merrick teaches in Sussex, and made his own cello under the direction of Newark Graduates working at the Cambridge Violin
View fullsize You don’t need to have studied at Newark to be a passionate supporter of our cause. Marina Thomas studied at London Metropolitan Univeristy, the last iteration of the old London School of Furniture before it was destroyed, and then on a part-ti
View fullsize Both canine and human support! Nicky Terry (along with the lovely Dolly) makes, teaches, and fiddles in Cambridge and, as a Newark alumnus herself, has inspired four of the current foundation and first year students to attend. You may also recognise

Download the campaign poster here:

#SaveNewark
Challenge

It’s all about the communities that love Newark’s Schools of Instrument Crafts, from our alumni to musicians and music teachers to the local coffee shop that employs our students, to anyone who just loves the idea that we exist.

See the students at work.

Yehudi Menuhin was one of the founding fathers of the Newark School of Violin Making. In 2016 to celebrate his centenary students at the school made a copy of his beloved “Lord Wilton” Guarneri violin to sell to raise funds for the local Trent Chamber Orchestra in which many of them played. Their endowment and generosity supported the orchestra right up to Covid. Join the other 67,000 people that have enjoyed this video.

Without people to build and repair instruments, there is no music.

The Newark Schools of Musical Instrument Craft have been at the heart of Britain’s £4Billion Music Industry for more than fifty years, training makers, repairers and technicians for the violin, woodwind instruments, guitar and piano. There is no other full time course in Britain providing the same training, yet these are the unsung heroes of the musical world.

Students come from around the world to Newark to study. They have an incalculable cultural impact on the market town of Newark on Trent.

Steph’s Story:

Representing our global community of students, Steph has come to Newark all the way from the Western Australian outback where she grew up on a wheat and sheep farm with her lovely whippet named Sassy, before apprenticing with a double-bass maker in Perth. If Lincoln College’s proposed solution comes into play, there will be no student visas for people like Steph.

Content courtesy of the Royal Academy of Music Knowledge Exchange.

Mark Locking, CEO and Principal of Lincoln College Group. 12 May Press statement.

“The School of Instrument Craft has a strong history and is incredibly important to the Lincoln College Group. It is renowned internationally and has earned that reputation by being the springboard for many respected craftspeople.”

Nyx’s Story:

Nyx Papayiannnis came to Newark having learned the violin and playing in county music services orchestras. Nyx joined the Foundation year, and graduated onto the full time B.A. Course. This year the foundation year students who have moved to Newark to begin their dream have had their places annulled and have been told by Lincoln College to find alternative courses at other institutions.

Nyx is typical of all UK Home students in higher education , relying on student finance to be on the course. Without the accredited B.A.( Hons) Course Nyx would have to seek private funding to study.

Content courtesy of the Royal Academy of Music Knowledge Exchange.

Ian Billyard, chair of the Board of Corporation, Lincoln College Group, 15 May 2025.

“The school [of Musical Instrument Crafts] which has a proud history and indeed is world-renowned is one that we are immensely proud to run and want to have continue. The prestige and reputation attached to it is clear from the outpouring of responses we have received...”

A lesson from the experts.

John Wright, a teacher at the Newark School of Violin Making talks about his own journey as a professional musician and alumnus of the school, and what it means to him to teach at the school and the kind of expertise that the students expect from study at Newark.

Content courtesy of the Royal Academy of Music Knowledge Exchange.

What Lincoln College has to say:

Statements made by Lincoln College:

Here are the statements that Lincoln College has issued publicly. We are a student campaign group and we may not have sight of the latest statements as they are made, but we will keep you up to day.

Please bear in mind that without an accredited course, it is impossible for UK Home students to access student loans, and it is impossible for EU and overseas students to obtain a visa to study in England. What the Lincoln College Group is proposing means that the course will only reopen admissions if enough self-funding UK residents take enough of an interest in the course to apply to a course whose applications are closed.

Contact Us

For media enquires and to send us photos and captions for the #savenewarkchallenge, email us at savenewarkchallenge@gmail.com, a student communications team will pick up your email.