At ACM our ethos of learning-by-doing is in full effect throughout the Summer months, thanks to our connections with various festivals around the UK.
This Summer, we enjoyed an expansion of our festival provision, with ACM involvement at Fat Tuesday, The Great Escape Festival, Trinity Folk Festival, Threshold Festival, Hyfest, Boomtown, Always The Sun, and the excellent Victorious Festival, headlined by artists such as Madness, Stereophonics, Rita Ora, Elbow, and Frank Turner.
A number of our students performed at different stages around the festival, and we also had Music Business and Tech Services students working backstage, helping to run the ‘People’s Area’. In addition to that, our very own Dave Cronen was also on site, as he was managing the Castle Stage throughout the festival.
“ACM’s presence was key at Victorious Festival this year because it’s the fastest growing festival in the UK, with a 140,000+ footfall this year alone. The festival has a great reputation for blending music programming with family entertainment across the whole weekend with a value for money ticket price in a predominantly working class city. Portsmouth is a music hungry city that is loyal to bands, venues and festivals and many of my bands Johnny Marr, Ash and We Are Scientists amongst others have said that when they played Victorious Festival it was their best festival show of the year.”
Dave Cronen, Business Link Ambassador, ACM
On the Saturday of the festival, we saw current ACM students China Bears continue their ascendance in the UK music scene with a triumphant set on the main stage.
Special mentions go to Stu Brootal, Lupus, Otis Mensah and Luna for their excellent performances in the People’s Lounge on the same day.
Alice Milburn, a very talented singer-songwriter currently studying a Vocals Diploma at ACM Guildford, performed at Victorious for the third year in a row. We caught up with her ahead of the festival to find out about her experiences of it, and of ACM so far!
Hi Alice! How are you finding the Vocals Diploma course at ACM so far?
I am really enjoying my vocals diploma course. I’m learning so much about my voice and technical abilities, as well as having the opportunity to work and collaborate with students from other disciplines such as production. My tutors are inspiring, especially as they are immersed in the industry and give us such a great insight into it.
This is your third year performing at Victorious Festival; how did your first performance there come about?
After performing locally at pubs and cafes around the Portsmouth area, I was approached by a promoter who offered me a slot at the Festival. Now it is very popular, there is an audition/application process.
What’s your favourite memory of Victorious Festival?
The first music festival I attended was Victorious in 2014 and I remember dancing to the likes of Scouting for Girls and Sophie Ellis Bextor. I came away thinking that the festival had a great atmosphere and was really supportive of local musicians, so much so that I wanted to be a part of it the following year.
What are you looking forward to at this year’s Victorious Festival?
Apart from my own performance (which I’m really excited about!), I’m looking forward to watching some amazing local talent like Jerry Williams and The UVG, as well as bigger names such as Frank Turner, KT Tunstall and Jake Bugg.
What does the rest of 2017 have in store for Alice Milburn?
I have a number of gigs at local venues, as well as some studio time to record some new original material. I am working on my next EP, having released my first ‘One AM’ back in February.
Thanks Alice!
We were incredibly proud to see our students and tutors involved at all levels of Victorious Festival – here’s to an even bigger Summer in 2018!
Connect with Alice Milburn on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and her website.
If you’d like to find out more about life as a student at ACM, please call our Admissions Team on 01483 500 841 or visit www.acm.ac.uk/open-days/ to book a place on an ACM Open Day today.
