The Guildhall School of Music & Drama has scored a major financial success for its Electronic & Produced Music (EPM) department, which has been growing in popularity with students in recent years.
The London-based conservatoire has been awarded £500,000 to turn its studio and teaching spaces into ‘state-of-the-art’ facilities, with work beginning this summer. Existing spaces will be refurbished, while new equipment will be bought and installed for new studios.
More than 200 students will benefit from the upgrade, with the EPM cohort set to expand this autumn. Some of those are studying on the EPM programme, which leads the UK conservatoire field in offering electronic music as a principal study for its students. Others will use the studios as part of elective modules, which include film music, game audio, songwriting and live electronics.
‘The value of state-of-the-art mixing and editing spaces, tailored to the specific needs and expectations of our high-tech artistic pathways, cannot be overstated’, said Professor Mike Roberts, Head of Electronic & Produced Music at Guildhall School. ‘The new studios will greatly increase the amount of time our students can spend refining their artistic output in an environment that meets and exceeds the expectations of the industry into which they can emerge as pioneering artists’.
The money for the project comes from several funders. £200,000 is from the Wolfson Foundation, £100,000 from the Foyle Foundation and £50,000 from the Garfield Weston Foundation. A further £137,500 has been awarded by The Guildhall School Trust, which is an independent charity dedicated to advancing the education of Guildhall students, while Guildhall School itself will invest £125,000 in new hardware and software. Fundraising to complete the project continues.
