We’re pleased to announce that OCM is accepting applications for BOOM 2026/27.
BOOM is OCM’s annual career and creative development scheme for artists or producers working with sound and music. We want to work with creators who are interested in making inspiring new music and sound experiences for audiences in unusual, outdoor, and public spaces – outside of concert halls or galleries. We want to help artists to develop their skills to work in new places, including digital, with a focus on making music and sound for audiences from all backgrounds.
OCM will support five artists or producers through the BOOM programme, which will run for six months from October 2026 to March 2027. We welcome applications from all genres, creative specialisms, and backgrounds as long as the focus for this scheme is music/sound based. We recognise that some communities have not been represented in BOOM previously and want to make sure this opportunity is open to everyone, no matter what your background or the challenges you have faced. We would love to hear from you if you identify as being a woman, trans, non-binary, from the Global Majority, a lower socio-economic background, or are disabled, or neurodivergent.
BOOM aims to help artists and producers who are ready to make a creative leap in their career. It is open to early, and mid-career artists, as well as more established practitioners looking to make a real and exciting change in their work. BOOM is not a commissioning scheme; you may produce work during the scheme, but the primary goal is artistic development, whether this results in the production of work or not. There will be no expectation of public presentation of work at the end of the scheme. The OCM team will mentor and guide artists through the scheme, supporting a learning and development journey; they won’t be working to produce / present the work of the artists on the scheme during BOOM.
We are enormously grateful for the generous support of Sound UK to create a fifth place on this year’s BOOM. This place will be the Sound UK BOOM Fellow.
This year, one of the places on BOOM will have a data sonification focus – our Climate BOOM Fellow with CEDA. More details can be found in our Application Pack.
If you are interested in applying to BOOM 2026/27 please read the Application pack, which contains full details about the scheme and how to apply:
The deadline for applications is: 8am on Monday 27th July 2026.
Contact Victoria Larkin if you have any questions about applying: victoria@ocmevents.org.
OCM and BOOM is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and is a PRS Foundation Talent Development Network Partner supported by PPL.
Image credit: Phantom Field by Mark Anderson, photo credit Jony Easterby