The British Record Industry Trust (BRIT Trust) 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". 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.
It is funded largely by money raised each year by the
BRIT Awards
The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...
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.
BRIT School
The
BRIT School
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, danc ...
in Croydon has been a major beneficiary of BRIT Trust funding, and was set up shortly after the Knebworth concert of 1990 where
Dire Straits
Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals and lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Pick Withers (drums and percuss ...
,
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
,
Jimmy Page
James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...
,
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
and
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...
, and more, performed to support The BRIT Trust.
Since its establishment in 1991, the BRIT School include alumni such as musicians
Adele
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (, ; born 5 May 1988), professionally known by the mononym Adele, is an English singer and songwriter. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a reco ...
,
Leona Lewis
Leona Louise Lewis (born 3 April 1985) is a British singer, songwriter, actress and activist. Born and raised in the London Borough of Islington, she attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon. Lewis achieved nationa ...
and
Loyle Carner
Benjamin Gerard Coyle-Larner (born 6 October 1994), known professionally as Loyle Carner, is an English hip hop musician. After supporting various rappers during their tours, he released his debut album, '' Yesterday's Gone'', in 2017, which g ...
, as well as actors including
Blake Harrison
Blake Harrison is an English actor, comedian and dancer. He is best known for playing Neil Sutherland in the BAFTA-winning E4 comedy ''The Inbetweeners'' and more recently as 'Medium' Dan, in the ITV sitcom Kate & Koji since 2020.
Career
H ...
,
Tom Holland
Thomas Stanley Holland (born 1 June 1996) is an English actor. His accolades include a British Academy Film Award, three Saturn Awards, a Guinness World Record and an appearance on the ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 Europe list. Some publications h ...
and
Cush Jumbo
Cush Jumbo (born 23 September 1985) is a British actress and writer. She is best known for her leading role as attorney Lucca Quinn in the CBS drama series ''The Good Wife'' (2015–16) and the CBS All Access spin-off series ''The Good Fight'' ...
.
Other charity partners
The BRIT Trust has been a long-term supporter of
Nordoff Robbins, the UK's leading independent music therapy charity; as well as
East London Arts & Music
East London Arts & Music (also known as ELAM) is a free school sixth form located in Bromley-by-Bow in East London, England.
History
Established in 2014, ELAM is for students aged 16 to 19 who wish to pursue a career in music, games design or ...
(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
British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with th ...
'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.
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
The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for various m ...
, 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
Key4Life is a British charity launched on 14 June 2013 to help reduce youth reoffending through the delivery of a rehabilitation programme to those in prison and those at risk of going to prison. Jonathan Joseph and Anthony Watson, the Englan ...
, which helps young men in prison, or at risk of going to prison, to find more positive pathways through their love of music.
References
External links
Board of TrusteesMusic Support
Charities based in the United Kingdom
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