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October 10, 2008

UCO to open Academy of Contemporary Music

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Holding a flaming red electric guitar, Scott Booker's enthusiasm filled the room where he helped announce a partnership between the University of Central Oklahoma and Britain's Academy of Contemporary Music that will bring the first authorized U.S. version of the award-winning academy to Oklahoma City.

"I can't say how excited I am about the possibilities," said Booker, manager of the Oklahoma City-based alternative rock band The Flaming Lips and executive director of the academy that will be known as ACM@UCO.

Officials said Thursday the partnership will enable UCO to offer a range of hands-on learning experiences in the performance, production and business sides of the music industry.

"There's many careers you can have," said Booker, who held the guitar not to perform but to allow others to sign it with a black felt pen.

From performing to producing, sound engineering to the business of the music industry, the academy will provide the most innovative music industry education available, he said.

"Nothing's cooler than a school of rock," said Mayor Mick Cornett, who recalled that it had been almost one year since the city dedicated The Flaming Lips Alley in the city's Bricktown entertainment district, where the academy will be located.

"And people thought we were crazy," Cornett said.

"And we are," someone shouted back, provoking laughter from the large crowd of administrators, musicians and students who gathered for the announcement.

UCO President W. Roger Webb said ACM, founded 12 years ago by director Phil Brookes in Guildford, Surrey, England, "has a marvelous success history."

The academy recently received the Queen's Award for Enterprise: Innovation 2008 for the academy's unique and industrious education philosophy.

Booker said recent ACM students include Newton Faulkner, a guitarist, singer and songwriter whose recent album Hand Built By Robots went to number one in the United Kingdom album charts.

Initially the school will be funded through tuition, which will be higher than normal tuition fees, pending approval by the state board of regents, Webb said.

Sponsorships from music industry businesses, such as musical equipment manufacturers, are expected to lend additional support after the academy opens in the fall of 2009, he said.

Booker, a UCO graduate who was instrumental in bringing British ACM officials and UCO administrators together, said the school would be a boon not only to aspiring music professionals, but the growing Oklahoma music scene as well.

"I think it's good for the state to be seen as internationally minded," he said.

"Oklahoma City and Bricktown are the perfect place," added Webb.

Webb expects the first class to accommodate 150 students who will be required to audition for acceptance. Scholarships will be available to qualifying applicants. Tryouts are expected to begin in January or February.

The initial teaching staff will be made up of about 15 people with professional experience in the music business, he said. Upon the regents' approval, the school would offer a two-year associate of applied science degree, the first such degree offered by UCO.

The ACM is also partnered with universities in Tokyo, Johannesburg, South Africa, and Bologna, Italy.

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