Merseybeat Mentoring

Description

Pop stars from Liverpool have become coaches to up-and-coming musicians in the city under a mentoring scheme sponsored by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and administered by the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA).

Mentors, like Peter Hooton of The Farm, teach budding musicians to avoid the potential pitfalls of the music industry, giving advice on signing contracts and promotion. Eddie London of China Crisis has written a mentoring musical which the students are to stage in LIPA's Paul McCartney Auditorium.

The scheme was audited by the Adult Learning Inspectorate in 2003, after which it was selected as a "good practice organisation". That same year a part-time performing arts academy for children aged 4 to 19 was launched. Classes split into five age groups that teach acting, singing and dancing are run on Saturdays over 12-week terms for 325 young people.

Part of the series: Vocation, Vocation, Vocation