Objectives of The Alternative Conservatoire: 

• Tackling diversity 
• Giving access to knowledge 
• Introduction of an apprenticeship scheme for music creators 
• Innovation in pedagogy 
• Cultivating creative communities 
• Decolonisation of knowledge 
• Bringing collaboration and creative leadership to the forefront of education
• Working in the artistic zeitgeist 
• Providing a space for East and West to collaborate

Why is it Needed? 

• Music departments are closing and conservatoires, though thriving, are failing to meet the needs of modern music making with one-size-fits-all courses. 
• Collaboration is a constant in the professional world, but is not taught in any rigorous academic or practical framework. 
• Access to knowledge from the top level conservatoires is restricted, with one leading conservatoire boasting an 89.96% white cohort and half the national average of entrants from the lowest socio-economic background. 
• Education is still subject to the western narrative: ‘...global histories of Western domination have had the effect of limiting what counts as authoritative knowledge, whose knowledge is recognised, what universities teach and how they teach it.’ - Decolonising SOAS report of 2018 
• UK Music Apprenticeship Scheme lacks any opportunities for music creatives. 
• Over 20% of A-level music entries are clustered around fewer than 50 schools, with independent schools accounting for a disproportionately high number of A-Level entries. - BCU 2019 report for RCM. Areas of greater deprivation in the country lead to lower engagement with music qualifications, leading to a creative brain drain for the industry. 
• Students from working-class backgrounds at elite universities face a number of challenges not just academically but also socially (Reay et al., 2009), due to feeling ‘out of place’ (Arts Council, 2014: 7). - Dr. Kirsty Devaney BCU 

Who is this course is for?

• Artists who don’t see themselves reflected in the traditional conservatoire cohort. 
• Artists who are usually directed to training rather than the deeper levels of knowledge a conservatoire offers (e.g. songwriters/producers being directed to courses focussing more on stage craft or technology rather than developing their art as composers). 
• Those facing financial constraints/expectations. They may see a full time degree course as both too expensive and too much of a career risk when failure is not an option. 
• Those possessing a plurality of cultural, genre or musical identities and don’t know how to approach improving their art. 
• Particularly driven creators who wish to enter the workplace. 
• Those wanting to make a step change in their practice whilst deepening their knowledge. 
• Those who want to explore and make music in a multi-genre environment, creating a new space for west and east to create, where plurality is the norm.