Oklahoma Gets Britain’s Academy of Contemporary Music

The Academy of Contemporary Music, a UK-based music school, is set to create what it describes as “a new model for music education” as it opens it first U.S. campus at the University of Central Oklahoma in 2009. The new school, known as the ACM@UCO, will provide unique educational opportunities and targeted, innovative classes for U.S. students who aspire to a career in the music industry. The school will open in The Oklahoma Hardware building, on Flaming Lips Alley in the heart of Oklahoma City’s vibrant Bricktown area. Founded in 1995 in the U.K., the school has established a new paradigm for contemporary music education and, in the last year alone, has won a Queens Award for Innovation in Education and has seen recent graduates Newton Faulkner and Amelle Berrabah (Sugababes) release No. 1 albums in the U.K. Scott Booker, manager of Oklahoma-based rock band The Flaming Lips and CEO of the ACM@UCO, saw a need for the school in the U.S.

“This is a music school that gets it,” Booker said. “The music industry is a multi-million dollar business and there’s no reason why there shouldn’t be training for it. We need to open that door.”

Connecting students directly to today’s music industry, ACM@UCO’s staff of teachers will include acclaimed performing artists and award-winning music professionals. Confirmed to offer master classes during the Academy’s first year are Lilly Allen, producer and member of The Bird and the Bee, Greg Kurstin, and Warner Bros. Records General Manager and EVP of Warner Bros. Promotions Tom Biery, as well as The Flaming Lips, with additional classes and teachers to be announced later.

ACM@UCO is currently accepting applications for the fall semester with a final application deadline of June 1, 2009. For more information, click here.

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LB Cantrell

LB Cantrell is Editor/Director of Operations at MusicRow magazine, where she oversees, manages and executes all company operations. LB oversees all MusicRow-related content, including the publication’s six annual print issues and online news. She is a Georgia native and a graduate of the Recording Industry Management program at Middle Tennessee State University.

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