Music school BIMM Bristol is to further develop its curriculum and extend its range of courses following a long-term finance deal with Barclays Corporate.
The £5.65m facility is a major boost to BIMM, which also has sites in Brighton and Dublin and runs the Tech Music School (TMS) in London. More than 2,000 students are studying music and music business at the colleges.
BIMM Brighton opened in 2001 and BIMM Bristol in 2008. Investment fund Sovereign Capital backed a buyout of this business in March 2010 with £10m. Since then it has acquired TMS in June 2010 and opened in Dublin in September last year.
BIMM group colleges cater for musicians who are serious about a career in the industry and students can study a range of professional qualifications from diploma to post-graduate level.
Each of the colleges is equipped with state-of-the art facilities and staffed by professional musicians and experienced music industry executives.
BIMM director Adam Carswell said: “The UK music industry has the world’s fourth-largest live music sector market, providing thousands of jobs each year.
“Our aim is to offer an innovative and outstanding environment to meet the increasing demand for higher and further educational music courses. Our relationship with Barclays Corporate is a vital one, and will help us greatly in achieving our aim of successfully competing in the music higher education arena.”
Barclays Corporate relationship director Mark Mattock added: “We are proud to continue to work with and support BIMM in their growth plans. We have sustained an ongoing dialogue with the colleges over the past 10 years and have always been impressed by the quality of leadership and strategic planning they have put in place. This facility clearly demonstrates our ability to work closely with our clients to deliver tailored financial solutions that appropriately align with their commercial aims.”
