Chase & Status star's Stratford free school given £314,000 Brit Trust boost

Will Kennard: The Chase & Status star set up ELAM three years ago
Dave J Hogan/Getty Images
Robert Dex @RobDexES22 November 2016

A project to build a new home for a free school set up by one half of chart duo Chase & Status has received a six-figure boost from the music industry.

Will Kennard set up ELAM (East London Arts & Music) three years ago in Stratford, and it has been so successful it is opening a bigger site in Bromley-by-Bow.

He accepted a £314,000 gift from The BRIT Trust — the charitable arm of music industry body the BPI — to go towards a theatre for the building.

With Chase & Status bandmate Saul Milton, Kennard has worked with acts including Rihanna and Plan B, and his brother Charlie is ELAM’s principal.

The star said: “We’re so excited by ELAM’s move to the new campus, and by this theatre that will act as a flagship to the state-of-the-art facilities.

“We are hugely grateful to The BRIT Trust, the record labels and music community.”

ELAM is a full-time academy for students aged 16 to 19 interested in careers in the music, film and TV or games industries. It works closely with the music business, including record label Universal, which helps run masterclasses and mentoring schemes.

BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor, a governor of the school, said: “ELAM and other creative schools have a critical role to play in nurturing talent.”

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