BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology

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 (FMP), interactive digital design (IDD), visual arts and design (VAD). Selective in its intake but free to attend, the school is notable for its celebrity alumni. Opened on 22 October 1991 under the CTC programme, the school is funded by the British Government with support from the British Record Industry Trust (BRIT) and other charity partners and donations and maintains an independent school status from the local education authority. History Mark Featherstone-Witty had been inspired by Alan Parker's 1980s film Fame to create a secondary school specialising in the performing arts. By the time he started trying to raise money through the School for Performing Arts Trust (SPA), he had refined a novel integrated curriculum. He approached Sir Richard Branson to be the project champion who agreed, on the condition that other record companies chipped in. As it happened, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) were concerned with home taping and realised they had no political influence to bring the necessary pressure to bear. The then Conservative government needed to give impetus to their flagging City Technology College scheme.