The European Union Youth Orchestra has received over £25,000 from a grant awarded by the Japan Art Association at this year’s Praemium Imperiale Awards. The grant will assist the training and costs of Rehearsal Residency for the musicians, who train during school and college holidays. The European Youth Orchestra, founded in 1978, selects 140 musicians every year from over 4,000 candidates aged between 14 and 23 from the 15 EU countries. Although the Orchestra receives funding from the Commission of the European communities, it also relies heavily on funding from the community and public sectors. The Grant for Young Artists is awarded to a group of an institution that encourages the involvement of young people in the arts, worth 5 million yen. Previous recipients of the awards include the Ulster Youth Orchestra, The National Film, Television and Theatre School, Lodz, Poland and the Hanoi National Conservatory of Music in Vietnam