Formation | 1989 |
---|---|
Legal status | Non-profit company |
Region served | United Kingdom |
Chairman | Tony Wadsworth |
Website | www |
The British Record Industry Trust (BRIT Trust) [1] [2] is a recorded music charity in the UK, established in 1989 by UK record labels. Its mission is to "improve lives through the power of music and the creative arts". [3] It is directed by a team of trustees, led by Tony Wadsworth, who was appointed chair of The BRIT Trust in February 2021, taking over from John Craig. [4]
It is funded largely by money raised each year by the BRIT Awards and also by the annual Music Industry Trust awards dinners (MITS), and has made more than 230 grant commitments totalling over £27 million to a wide range of causes and charities. [5] [6]
The BRIT School in Croydon has been a major beneficiary of BRIT Trust funding, [7] and was set up shortly after the Knebworth concert of 1990 where Dire Straits, Elton John, Jimmy Page, Paul McCartney and Pink Floyd, and more, [8] performed to support The BRIT Trust.
Since its establishment in 1991, the BRIT School include alumni such as musicians Adele, Leona Lewis and Loyle Carner, as well as actors including Blake Harrison, Tom Holland and Cush Jumbo.
The BRIT Trust has been a long-term supporter of Nordoff Robbins, the UK's leading independent music therapy charity; [9] as well as East London Arts & Music (ELAM), the games design, music and film and television college for 16- to 19-year-olds situated in East London.
It also supports the British Phonographic Industry's BRITs Apprentice Scheme, which since 2018 has each year given up to 10 individuals from diverse backgrounds looking to start out in the music business a high-quality, paid opportunity to fast-track their careers with small-to-medium independent music companies. [10]
The BRIT Trust has recently broadened its educational remit to also incorporate mental health and well-being, and has since supported charities such as Mind, which has developed programmes to encourage awareness of mental well-being in the workplace, Music Support, which provides counselling for those who work in music who may struggle with addictions or with demands placed on them by their careers, and Key4Life, which helps young men in prison, or at risk of going to prison, to find more positive pathways through their love of music.
David Jon Gilmour is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who is a member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined in 1967, shortly before the departure of the founder member Syd Barrett. By the early 1980s, Pink Floyd had become one of the highest-selling and most acclaimed acts in music history. Following the departure of Roger Waters in 1985, Pink Floyd continued under Gilmour's leadership and released three more studio albums.
The Division Bell is the fourteenth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 28 March 1994 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and on 5 April by Columbia Records in the United States.
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The Pilgrim Trust is an independent charitable grant-making trust in the United Kingdom. The Trust's aims are to improve the life chances of the most vulnerable and preserve the best of the past for the public to enjoy. It is based in London and is a registered charity under English law.
The BRIT School is a British performing and creative arts school located in Selhurst, Croydon, England, with a mandate to provide education and vocational training for the performing arts, music, music technology, theatre, musical theatre, dance, applied theatre, production arts and the creative arts film and media production, interactive digital design, visual arts and design. Selective in its intake but free to attend, the school is notable for its celebrity alumni.
British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards; is home to the Mercury Prize; co-owns the Official Charts Company with the Entertainment Retailers Association; and awards UK music sales through the BRIT Certified Awards.
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Jason Iley is the current Chairman and CEO of Sony Music UK. Formerly President of Roc Nation Records and the UK chief of Mercury Records, Iley currently heads up all of Sony Music's activities in the UK and Ireland, overseeing Sony Music's frontline and imprint labels across the region, including the operations of Columbia, Epic, RCA, Commercial Group, Relentless, Insanity, Since '93, Black Butter, 5K and Robots + Humans. Iley was instrumental in Sony Music UK's acquisition of Ministry Of Sound Recordings.
Brit Floyd is a Pink Floyd tribute band formed in 2011 in Liverpool, United Kingdom by Damian Darlington.
Tony Wadsworth has had a lifelong career in the music industry, including stints as Managing Director of the Parlophone label, Chairman & CEO of EMI Music UK and Ireland, and Chairman of the industry's trade association, the BPI.
Margaret Henrietta Augusta Casely-Hayford CBE is a British lawyer, businesswoman and public figure who is active in the voluntary sector. She is Chancellor of Coventry University, chairs the board of trustees of Shakespeare's Globe, and was formerly chair of ActionAid UK and company secretary and head of legal services for leading retailers the John Lewis Partnership. She is in the forefront of working to create diversity on boards.
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