The BRIT School, one of the world's leading free creative arts schools that concentrates on preparing students for a working life in the creative industries, has made two major announcements that coincide with its 30th anniversary year.
The school today announced the launch of the BRIT Transforms Revue - a survey that aims to highlight how The BRIT School has transformed lives of young people. It has also announced an ambitious £10m fundraising campaign that it hopes will continue to work in placing students within the creative industries.
The announcement today comes as an important part of the 30th anniversary year. Last night, at the launch of the BRIT Transforms Revue, an event was held at The Garden in Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London. The event which was supported by Mastercard, Hipgnosis, Live Nation, McCann, PRS for Music and The Other Songs, was attended by a number of alumni including Cush Jumbo, Katie Melua, Dan Gillespie Sells and Kiera-Nicole Brennan.
The venue was provided by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who said in a video message: 'The BRIT School is one of the greatest success stories of our culture in Britain today. It is incredibly diverse and extraordinary in its breadth of the training that it gives in all of the disciplines necessary in theatre and music. I've never been more impressed anywhere - in any country in the world - it's just astounding.'
The recently announced new Chair of the Board of Trustees Josh Berger CBE said: 'The BRIT school takes young people from every background and turns them into our next generation of talent. I've seen first-hand the critical importance that The BRIT School plays in providing a free arts education and I am excited and proud to be able to help build on its legacy – the school is indispensable to the future of the creative industries in the UK and beyond.'
The BRIT School was established in 1991 with the support of The BRIT Trust, who remain its largest sponsor. The School has trained over 10,000 young people in music, theatre, dance, media, live production, the digital and visual arts. The School's alumni include Adele, Loyle Carner, Tom Holland, Amy Winehouse, Cush Jumbo, and many other notable artists and creative professionals.
In 2021, Flow Associates were commissioned to review data collected through The BRIT School's 30th anniversary survey, which was sent to all alumni who graduated between 1993 and 2021. The key findings were that:
• 87 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their family would have struggled to afford a private secondary arts education if they had not come to The BRIT School for free.
• 98 percent of respondents agree or strongly agree that 'BRIT made me feel welcome, regardless of my financial or ethnic background or sexual orientation.'
• 60 percent of respondents consider themselves to be working in the creative industries.
Stuart Worden, The BRIT School Principle, said: 'The BRIT Transforms Revue demonstrates how the School has impacted on the lives of our many students. I am particularly proud of how our values - to be original, ambitious, responsible, inclusive, kind and free - are reinforced by our graduates' views that we supported them, that they could be themselves, that we were kind and inclusive and that BRIT played a part as they went onto remarkable careers in the creative industries and beyond. We cannot, however, continue to do this work without real investment and we hope everyone can play their part in our BRIT Transforms Campaign to keep the School a beacon of creative excellence. With the thrill of Josh Berger's arrival, the Board of Trustees and the extraordinary BRIT family, I know we can achieve great things.'
The BRIT Transforms Campaign is a £10 million campaign to transform the lives of young artists from all backgrounds, giving them the education, skills and opportunities for careers in the creative industries - the UK's largest growing sector - and beyond. More information can be found here.
