"BRIT School North" touted
The BPI has unveiled plans for a new specialist creative school to widen the talent pipeline and expand opportunities across the UK
Last updated 8th Feb 2023
The BPI, the representative voice for independent labels and major record companies across the UK, has unveiled proposals to launch a specialist creative school in the North of England - provisionally dubbed "BRIT School North".
"BRIT School North" is inspired by the successful model of the BRIT School in Croydon, which is free to attend and since opening its doors more than three decades ago, has established a reputation as a world-leading centre for educating and nurturing creative talent.
The BPI has submitted a bid to the Department for Education’s highly competitive free school funding process, ‘Wave-15’, to open a specialist 16-19 college in the centre of Bradford.
The school is designed to provide a unique option for students across West Yorkshire and the wider region, by offering an opportunity to study in an immersive environment solely dedicated to the creative learning experience. The vocational curriculum is expected to offer both performance and skills-based subjects across music, theatre, digital design and production arts. The school will be aimed at young people looking to pursue a career in the creative sector, and the BPI knows from its experience that this type of educational setting produces the best talent possible for the UK’s world-leading creative industries.
If approved, the school will be one of only 15 to be granted funding through this round and would be on a projected course to open in 2026.
It has long been the ambition of the BPI and its members to create a specialist creative school outside of London and the South East of England, drawing on the success and experiences of the existing school and further delivering on a strong commitment to making the music industry and the wider creative industries more inclusive and accessible for all – regardless of background.
This project sees collaboration between the BPI, the three major record companies – Sony Music, Universal Music and Warner Music; the BRIT School; and the Day One Trust – which runs specialist creative schools, East London Arts & Music (ELAM) and the London Screen Academy (LSA). These and other partnerships will ensure the school has direct links into the wider creative industries locally, nationally and globally, ensuring the curriculum is drawing on best practices and offering students experiences that may not otherwise be available.
The three major record labels will also be contributing an initial amount of additional funding towards the school, which is expected to be used to fund the purchase of state-of-the-art equipment.
Bradford was selected following extensive work to assess a location for the school that both delivers on ambitions to level up the creative opportunities for underserved young people and provides the right conditions for this specialist proposal.
Bradford has a budding creative economy and has been awarded City of Culture 2025. If approved, the school will help to deliver on the legacy commitment of the City of Culture status and contribute to Bradford’s 10-year cultural strategy, which places the creative industries at the heart of their economy.
Speaking about the decision to submit a proposal, the Chair of the BPI - our very own YolanDa Brown OBE DL - said:
“We are incredibly proud of our track record in promoting and funding specialist creative education and this application reflects our ambition to extend this even further across the UK. The creative industries are a powerful force for social mobility, providing opportunities based on ability and talent. We look forward to building upon the proven success of this model to give a greater number of young people from across the North of England an opportunity to pursue a career in the creative industries – both on stage and behind the scenes.
“Bradford already has a wonderfully vibrant cultural and creative scene. We are very excited about the benefits of this partnership and how we can contribute to Bradford’s ambitions, but also how this school can continue our work to diversify our talent pipeline by ‘levelling-up’ opportunity, both geographically and socio-economically.”
About the BPI (British Phonographic Industry):
Founded in 1973 and this year celebrating its 50th anniversary, the BPI is the representative voice of independent and major record labels across the UK. As a trade association, it champions the UK’s recorded music community, safeguarding the rights of its members and of the artists, performers and label members of the collecting body PPL.
The BPI’s membership consists of well over 500 independent labels and the UK’s three majors – Universal Music UK, Sony Music Entertainment UK and Warner Music UK. Its total membership taken together accounts for approximately 85% of legitimate domestic music consumption and around 1 in 10 streams globally.
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