Ed Sheeran has set up a foundation to support music education for children.
On Thursday, the British hitmaker announced the launch of the Ed Sheeran Foundation, which aims to help educate children about music.
In a new Instagram post, Ed explained that he wanted to set up the foundation because music is "not taken seriously" in schools.
"I set up @edsheeranfnd because recently there's been less and less importance being put on music education," he wrote. "Even when I was in school it was seen as a 'doss subject' and not taken seriously."
The Shape of You hitmaker continued, "There's a misconception that it's 'not a real job' - when the music industry accounts for 216,000 jobs in so many different fields, and bringing as much as £7.6 billion ($9.3 billion) in a year to the UK economy."
Ed went on to stress the importance of supporting the arts, adding that music is a "key part of our society".
"Not to mention the power our art has worldwide to bring joy to people," he penned. "It's something we should be proud of and championing in the UK, not sweeping under the rug and pretending we are just bankers (no offence to bankers obvz) (sic)."
The Bad Habits singer added that creative subjects were "incredible" for his mental health as a child, adding, "feeling a sense of purpose and achievement, even just learning piano or cello at a young age way before songwriting."
The foundation aims to help children learn skills such as playing instruments, songwriting, performing and more. It will also provide instrument libraries, studio and practice space, music workshops, music lessons and mentoring programmes.
The announcement comes six years after the singer launched the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation, which aimed to help people under the age of 18 in Suffolk, England, to study or play music.
