The pioneering college of music WaterBear, is celebrating a highly successful launch event to mark the upcoming opening of its second college campus. WaterBear Sheffield will welcome independent artists and musician students from September 2023, following the exceptional success of its inaugural college in Brighton and with an unrivalled reputation for specialist music education.
Embracing WaterBear’s ethos of supporting independent, DIY artists to build long-term, sustainable careers in the music industry, WaterBear Sheffield will offer a rich programme of BA (Hons) Degrees and MA courses.
The anticipated launch event, presided over by WaterBear’s Chairman Terry Sweeney, was held at The Network Sheffield, a live music venue located in the heart of the city. Budding artists and prospective students, educational providers, members of the media and established industry contacts travelled from across the UK to attend.
Opening the event and highlighting the college’s passion for developing young artists was a performance from the locally-based four-piece indie rock band, BLOOM. Following an introduction from the college’s founders and music education pioneers Adam Bushell and Bruce John Dickinson, special live performances also came from local artists and bands including headline act and rapper Coco, Harri Larkin, DJ Lamour, English rock band Bang Bang Romeo and WaterBear alumni Lily Knott and Go For It Tribe.
Throughout the evening, guests gained a valuable insight into the courses and curriculum, the WaterBear student experience, student career opportunities and artist development, and accommodation and finance. Attendees also had the opportunity to visit the new Sheffield campus currently under construction, located on the site of the iconic Gatecrasher nightclub building.
WaterBear’s Chairman, Terry Sweeney, commented “It was a privilege to join Adam, Bruce and the WaterBear family on what has been a monumental evening to celebrate the launch of WaterBear Sheffield.
“WaterBear has been on an incredible journey to date with four successful years providing first-class music education, enabling students to achieve a solid foundation for a sustainable career in the music industry. We are now immensely looking forward to the next stage of our evolution in growing the WaterBear brand.”
Speaking of WaterBear’s journey at the event Co-founder Adam Bushell said, “We’ve seen a change in the music industry over the last twenty years, huge changes, but we felt strongly that music education just wasn’t keeping up and it wasn’t geared for the realities of how the music industry has changed. So, we got together and thought we have to do another music college, and we have to make it about how things have changed, more about the independent, self-reliant, self-motivated DIY artist so, we started WaterBear in Brighton and four years later, here we are.
“Brighton is going really well, we have around 500 students for this September so, it was the perfect time for us to branch out and look for another place, and I’m so amazingly happy that we’ve stuck a pin in Sheffield. Today marks the starting gun and the countdown to when the college opens in September 2023.”
Co-Founder Bruce John Dickinson added, “This one is a bit special. It feels to me, and I don’t know if this is because I’m from Scarborough, but it feels like music education is coming home. There’s a vibe in the city that you notice immediately when you come into the town, it feels like everything is coming together, it feels like a culture of relations – that’s already happening and we want to be a part of it. We want to do our bit to pull things together and do cool stuff – it’s about two things, new music and creating new jobs in a great sector. So, if you put that together with the talent in this city, we believe the sky is the limit so we are super excited about being here.”
