In partnership with The Lowde Music Trust, the Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) is proud to announce The Keith Lowde 2017 Scholarship, set up in the name and memory of Keith Lowde, the founder of ACM’s Music Business School.
Worth up to £27,000, the scholarship will fully fund a student’s journey through one of ACM’s Music Business or Technical Services programmes at ACM Guildford or ACM London, paying for their entire tuition fees for their duration of study, lasting up to 3 years.
Keith Lowde was a leading figure in the UK music industry and his sudden death in a tragic accident resulted in a collective desire by his family, friends, and colleagues to create a lasting legacy in his name. Keith’s passion had always been to help and enable other people to achieve and succeed. He cared deeply about the creative and performing arts, and was instrumental in helping people protect their intellectual property rights, and realise their potential.
Oliver Sussat, Director at ACM said: “Keith Lowde was an incredibly special man – the patriarch of ACM’s Music Business School and an inspiration to so many young people. Keith taught by example, helping our students to build careers in music, but just as importantly, personal and professional values to be proud of. I was so very privileged to spend a number of years in his company here at ACM, and I am proud that we are able to work with The Lowde Music Trust to keep his memory, care and spirit here with us today.”
Keith’s work made a real difference to hundreds of students’ lives and now The Lowde Music Trust continues this work through a series of awards and mentoring programmes for talented music students, creative entrepreneurs and young people across the country. The Trust works to advance the education of young people in the subject of music and performance, as well as promote positive health and wellbeing among young people, more widely.
Saturday 8th July saw the return of The Lowde Music Trust’s annual fundraising music festival, Lowde Fest, and ACM was thrilled to be involved, with alumni and tutors performing and running the backstage area.
Alumna Chess Galea took to the stage in the early afternoon, delivering a stand-out performance of smooth pop originals and a few inventive mash-ups thrown in for good measure. Following straight after on the main stage was ACM tutor Erika Footman fronting 29 Fingers, an energetic function band that really got the crowd going.
The majority of the Hampshire festival’s technical crew was made up of talented ACM alumni. Working extremely hard in the soaring heat, the crew delivered exceptional sound and lighting with seamless change overs between the two stages. Approximately 4,000 people attended the festival on Saturday, making it one of the most successful yet. Stage Production Manager and ACM alumnus Will Fenton said: “The ACM alumni that are here today are doing fantastically well. As an ACM alumnus, I still probably work once or twice a week with people that sat next to me in the classroom studying. Most of the crew that I’ve brought onto this festival are ACM graduates from throughout the years, who I’ve met through working and I know I can rely on them. It’s a quality team.”
ACM’s Keith Lowde Scholarship offers a life-changing experience for the recipient, enabling them to graduate with a degree qualification, completely free of tuition-fee related debt.
Andrea Lowde, Lowde Fest Production Co-ordinator said of the Scholarship: “It was very important that, like the festival, we supported other students to go to ACM, because it’s such a fantastic academy that’s very close to our hearts and of course, was very close to Keith’s heart. We wanted to ensure that his name lived on and that students had the opportunity to study, even perhaps if they didn’t have money to invest in their own training and education. We’re hoping to mentor the recipient through their time at ACM. We hope to see them grow and want to be able to support them in their future ventures.”
Alongside The Keith Lowde Scholarship, ACM offers a series of other prestigious awards to its prospective students including The Skunk Anansie Scholarship (for Performance), The Freddie Mercury Scholarship (for Artistry) and The BASCA Scholarship (for Songwriting), making their unique brand of music industry education more accessible than ever before. For more information on how to apply for one of these scholarships go to their website here: https://www.acm.ac.uk/scholarships/
Limited spaces are available for September 2017 study and applications for The Keith Lowde Scholarship are now being accepted.
