Indie musician and DJ Clint Boon (Inspiral Carpets), Mike Joyce (ex-Smiths’ Drummer), Dean Fagan (Coronation Street actor) Stuart Maconie (Broadcaster/Journalist) were just some of the people that turned up to celebrate the opening of Access to Music Manchester – a £1million facility located in one of the city’s legendary former music hangouts.
The new college has transformed the former Jilly’s Rockworld and Music Box nightclubs (AKA Fagins and Rafters) at Bruntwood’s St James’ Buildings, 65 Oxford Street, and is training over 150 students on a range of courses including music performance, music technology and music business - with creative media being launched in September 2015.
Clint Boon, who was recently announced as patron of the Manchester said: “It’s brilliant to see a building that had such a rich musical heritage, transformed into a state-of-the-art training centre, where new generations of talent can craft their musical skills. I am still learning about music - especially new digital technology and therefore hope as patron, I can not only share my musical experiences and knowledge, but also learn from the new talent”.
Adrian Armstrong, Chief Executive of Access to Music said: “We had a fantastic launch event with a great mix of attendees from music, media and education helping us celebrate our new centre.
Our announcement that Clint Boon has come on board as our patron was well received and we look forward to working with him and inspiring our students”.
The purpose-built centre has a suite of rehearsal rooms, a full-size recording studio, spacious class rooms and a dedicated performance space (with a capacity for approx.100 people).
Established in 1992, Access to Music provides a wide choice of courses covering all aspects of the music industry; a curriculum developed in partnership with Rockschool, the UK’s only popular music awarding body. To date, the college has trained thousands of performers and producers, including BRIT award-winning Ed Sheeran and Rita Ora.
The space is located in a Bruntwood managed building and was project managed Daron Williams and designed by Atul Bansal and the team at Sheila Bird Group.
Former patrons of Access to Music include Sir George Martin CBE and Jools Holland.
