Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA)

We were co-founded by Paul McCartney and Mark Featherstone-Witty (our Principal and The BRIT School creator) in 1995. We provide HE training for performers (actors, dancers and musicians) and those who make performance possible (design, management technical theatre, sound technology). There’s also provision for applied theatre/community arts.

Four years after leaving, 92% of our graduates are being paid for doing what they love and are good at; that’s our curriculum focus: sustained work.

We attract a third more international students than any UK specialist performing arts institution. Every continent has been represented; in all 84 different nationalities.

Many graduates are award winners: five Grammys in five different countries, five finalists for The Lindbury Prize for Stage Design and the overall winner this year, BRIT Nominations, TPi Monitor Engineer of the Year (twice), TMA Theatre Award, NME Awards (three times), Olivier Awards (eight winners and nominees) and the Deutscher Comedy Pries.

Universities across the world (examples: Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Oslo, California Institute of the Arts, De La Salle Singapore) have sought guidance.

Music and technical graduates have supported a plethora of artists and events from Beyoncé to Coldplay, from Florence and the Machine to Madonna and Ed Sheeran and London’s Olympics.