Member Article

WaterBear Music College Expands its Careers and Industry Team to Create Far Reaching Opportunities for Students

WaterBear, the leading UK music college based in Brighton and Sheffield, has bolstered its Careers and Industry team with five new appointments.

Damian Morgan, Andy Maclure, Lamour White, Sam Rushton, and Greg Archer, will add considerable value to the department, which has become highly regarded for its extensive experience across all areas of the music and education industry. Team members are also working artists with a wealth of knowledge in music management, artist development, tour management, live events and radio.

Damian Morgan - Head of Careers and Industry Liaison (Sheffield) has worked in the music industry for over 25 years within music management and artist development with bands such as Oasis, Happy Mondays and The Smiths. Damian comments: “I am incredibly excited to be joining WaterBear and sharing my knowledge and industry contacts with students. It’s a thrilling time to be working in the creative industries, and it is a real honour to be working with the next generation of music pioneers.”

Alongside Damian at the Sheffield campus, WaterBear also welcomes Lamour White - A&R, a music talent manager, video producer, DJ, and manager of rising TikTok star ADMT, and Greg Archer, joins as Student Experience Co-ordinator, a songwriter and guitarist with experience of event, tour and artist management.

Andy Maclure, takes up the role of Careers and Industry Director (Brighton), bringing with him many years of experience within the music industry including roles as a label manager, former drummer with the band Sleeper, and a songwriter and producer who has worked with artists such as Sophie Ellis Bextor and Mel C. Andy comments: “I’m delighted to be joining the amazing team at WaterBear, Brighton. WaterBear already offers students unbelievable access to music professionals and industry opportunities and I’m looking forward to helping expand this provision for our students and alumni.”

In Brighton Andy joins Sam Rushton - Events Co-ordinator, artist manager, producer, songwriter and guitarist of indie pop band, Orchards.

The five new appointments will join an already highly experienced team, which includes Kieron Pepper - Director of Artist Development, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, former drummer with Prodigy, and bassist with Sleeper; Jodie Amos - Head of Events, drummer, singer and former frontwoman and Georgie Palzeaird - Senior Careers Advisor, radio presenter, event host, radio plugger and accredited journalist.

Eve Massaad, Director of Marketing explains: “We are very excited to welcome the new team members together with their years of experience, skills and knowledge in the music industry. The role of Higher Education is to support those looking to build a career and within a changing world it is essential we have our finger on the pulse. By creating the right opportunities, we can help our students become resilient, adaptable and arm them with the experience and knowledge to help them navigate their future careers. By investing in our careers and industry department we aim to provide a fully rounded offer to our students and continue to ensure WaterBear is run by musicians, for musicians.”

At WaterBear, experiences within the music industry are core to everything they do. Through their many partners and contacts, the team continuously seek new and exciting opportunities countrywide and beyond to help students build connections and support their pathway into the industry. They are committed to providing performance opportunities at venues and festivals such as Tramlines, ArcTanGent and The Great Escape, and work experience and placements such as session work, sound engineering, production, event management, and marketing within venues, festivals and record labels, alongside access to events, gigs and conferences.

The team also source opportunities for students to attend a huge variety of industry masterclasses and gain unrivalled behind the scenes access with bands and industry experts such as Royal Blood, Frogleap, Everything Frog leap, Idles, and Architects, providing incredible insights into the industry. Alongside these experiences students can also benefit from 1:1 artist development, careers support and mentoring.

WaterBear offers BA (Hons) degree and master’s courses made for today’s musicians, artists and industry professionals. The college has built an unrivalled reputation for its dedication to specialist one-to-one mentoring, focused class sizes, flexible course delivery and exclusive career development opportunities. WaterBear colleges are based in the heart of Brighton and Sheffield, and also offers a range of online distance learning courses too.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Melissa Chawner .