Academy of Contemporary Music announces new Birmingham campus

Skunk Anansie guitarist talks about the band’s tie-up with education.

The Academy of Contemporary Music will be opening their third campus im Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter in September.

Students may study at ACM Birmingham from September 2017 on Further and Higher Education courses at Diploma and Degree levels, reflecting the study options also available at ACM’s other campus locations.

The new campus offering will sit alongside ACM’s existing London and Guildford locations, where the group has been developing their inimitable brand of music industry education since 1995. Whether students choose to focus on music performance, songwriting, production, technical services or business management, ACM prides itself on delivering an immersive music industry education in which the highest quality of teaching and learning is matched with unparalleled student experiences. The multidisciplinary nature of its course offering means that ACM represents a microcosm of the music industry, in which its students can work together and learn by doing.

ACM looks forward to extending its tripartite commitment for its students’ academic, professional and personal development to the new Birmingham location, with its Industry Link (headed up by Ace of Skunk Anansie) and Artist Development (headed up by Kieron Pepper of The Prodigy) departments helping to bridge the gap between what industry needs and what education has traditionally provided.

ACM Birmingham students will also benefit from ACM’s unique partnership with Europe’s largest music recording complex, Metropolis Studios, giving them an access-all-areas pass to the creative powerhouse where over 50% of the UK Chart is mixed, mastered or recorded in any one year.

ACM’s Executive Chairman, Kainne Clements, said: “ACM has a long-standing reputation for innovation in the field of music education, and so we are very excited to open our newest campus in a city which not only has a rich music history, but like us, has made a steadfast commitment to innovation in music, creativity and technology for the years ahead.”

And to tell us about the new campus, we asked Ace, the guitarist from Skunk Anansie, how he came to be involved.

You were a tutor at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music. Is the ACE a spin-off from your work there?

“It’s through connections. I had a spell away from the band when I was tutoring and I started my own school. From there I’ve been doing masterclasses and when I met up with some of the people I’d worked with they asked me to get involved here. I thought it was a great idea; there was a lot of stuff happening and there was a way I could really help.”

Why choose Birmingham to be the home of ACE’s latest campus?

“It’s the second-biggest city in the coutry and there’s so much musical heritage there; Sabbath, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin. I grew up in Cheltenham and I’d come up to buy my clothes in Oasis, I bought my gear from Musical Exchanges. We played tons of gigs in Birmingham, it’s a music city and there’s an incredible heritage. I’m looking forward to working in Birmingham and revisiting my youth, just walking round the city and breathing the air reminds me of the Odeon and the Powerhouse.”

You’re the ACE’s Industry Link. What does that mean?

“It’s industry for students, the real work experience so you’re talking gigs, masterclasses, festivals, internships, guest lectures, radio sessions, opportunities for work. It’s like the real music business, with access while you’re studying so it could be a DJ night, it could be planning a festival, helping out backstage at events, all different things to match the different needs of students.”

To make them aware of dodgy deals and unscrupuolous characers? You must have come across a few in your time.

“You know what, I’ve been very lucky. With Skunk we’ve always had good management who have done the right thing. We’ve been very fortunate. It’s nearly 25 years with the band, we’re still selling records and selling out venues and having an amazing time so we’re lucky that we didn’t get caught in anything bad. That’s a major thing and it helps because I’m not a victim of anything like a bad record deal so I’m not moaning about how terrible it all is. I think this is an amazing thing to do, to be creative and to carry on doing the thing you love doing is fantastic. I understand the negative side of the business, but with the right decisions you can avoid a lot of that.”

Who is the course aimed at?

“Basicially, performers in any kind of discipline; drums, bass, guitar, songwriting, production. Business and technical services as well, so tour managers, production managers, lighting techs, sound guys, things like that. Every aspect of music really.”

It seems that you don’t have to be a musician, you can work in other aspects of the business.

“No, you can manage artists, work in intellectual copyright, promote live events or you can be in tour production and work across the world. That’s a valid career. Everyone needs a good manager so you don’t have to be musically enabled, just musically minded.”

Although a cynic would argue that a degree in rock’n’roll is the direct opposite to rock’n’roll.

“You can get a degree in anything now. Where there’s money and jobs involved they usually want experience and qualifciations to show that you’ve learned something and you have transferable skills. So a degree in music says ‘I’m serious, I studied this and I’m at a certain level’. A music management degree might sound a strange thing but if you worked in any other business you’d need a degree and music is a multi-billion pound business.”

A lot of musicians started out at art school and played the college circuit so maybe it makes a lot more sense than might seem.

“Yes, it’s hard to sell records to survive but you can still be quite a successful band. In the meantime they may work for a record label, or be a producer or work for the BBC, or work for a promoter who wants to see some experience and qualifications. It’s a career now and qualifications are important, it’s a way of saying that you want to work in the music business, it’s not some wild dream but you’re taking it seriously. Having a degree might not seem relevant when you’re in a band but if you set up your own school or you become a tutor, or you want to work for a label, a degree in music can be the thing that seals the deal for you.”

It stil seems a bit of a distance from when I saw you playing with the Sex Pistols in 1996.

“That was a long time ago, 21 years. We toured Australia with them after that and every night I was watching them. That was an education.”

Which brings us round to what SkunK Anansie are doing now.

“We’ve been out for the last year and a half plugging our album. Last year we did thirty festivals, this year we’ve played Europe an the UK, which finished last week so we’re now going into writing the next album. We’ve built a new studion in London so we’ve got another place to record. That’ll take a year or so then in 2019 we’re 25 years old so we’ll plan something really special for that.”

There’s also an ACE Skunk Anansie scholarship open to degree students.

“Some lucky person is going to get £27,000-worth of education. No student loan, no debts. How amazing is that? The gift of education must be the best gift you can give anyone. We all believe in it so it wasn’t a hard decision to make.”

And when they’re headling stadiums will you insist on a support gig?

“I’ll definitely want a backstage pass. Maybe I’ll be a bit old but it’ll be great to someone who’s talented develop their skill, who maybe couldn’t afford to do it otherwise. We’re giving them a chance to do something that’s been good for us. We belive it’s a valid career, we’re still doing it so if someone wants to do it we’ll believe in them.”

Applications are still open for September 2017 to study at ACM Guildford, ACM London and ACM Birmingham. To book an audition or visit the Academy for an open day go to www.acm.ac.uk or call the admissions team directly on 01483 500 841.

To apply for the Skunk Anansie Scholarship or one of ACM’s other scholarship awards (including the Freddie Mercury Award and the BASCA Scholarship), visit www.acm.ac.uk/scholarships for more information.

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