UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 17 MAY
A trio of Birmingham City University academics attended a Royal Garden Party hosted by King Charles and Queen Camilla to celebrate the creative industries.
"It was an honour to represent our course and the College of English and Media," said Music Business Course Director Dr Matt Grimes.
He was joined at Buckingham Palace by Music Business Senior Lecturer Dr Asya Draganova and Foundation Music Business Lecturer and Course Director Robin Kay.
BCU's Music Business degree offers training, placements and networking opportunities, as well as providing a platform for collaborative research projects to address pertinent industry issues.
In 2016, the University partnered with UK Music to help students build careers in the music industry.
The success of the partnership was recognised by the Royal Family, which led to the invitation to Buckingham Palace.
The Royal Family typically hosts four garden parties each year, catering for around 30,000 guests. These invitation-only events celebrate the contributions of people from across the globe in their respective fields.
The latest garden party included some of the best and brightest minds from the world of culture, art, heritage, music, broadcasting and fashion, who came together to celebrate the creative industries.
Matt added: “We celebrated our ongoing academic partnership with UK Music, representing not only our course and BCU but also the wider music education sector.
“We see the invitation as recognition of the dynamic students who graduate from our course, and their contribution to the UK music and wider UK creative industries.
"It was a great experience meeting and networking with other creatives from around the UK and hearing about the amazing work they are doing.
“It has been a brilliant opportunity to highlight to others what we do at the University, but also to open up career opportunities for our students and for future collaborations with industry.”
Asya said: "At a time when I am immersed in marking our students' final-year projects, the garden party drove home how privileged I am to be working with the next generation of music business professionals. They are some of the most committed and talented young people.
“It was an honour to represent our course and the wider College of English and Media community.”
Robin added: “It was an amazing experience, which shows the value creative industries provide to the UK economy and more importantly to wider society.
“It was great to be recognised for our contributions to the educational, economic and cultural health of the UK. Connecting with such distinguished professionals from a broad range of creatives industries was a fantastic opportunity.
"To see the range of skills and talent we have in this country is truly mind blowing.
“Knowing that my music business teaching colleagues and BCU's contributions are recognised by industry and government bodies as vital cogs in the UK’s creative industries is humbling.”