Fame
Academy raises £1 million to set up performing arts bursary
Sales
of the Fame Academy album have helped to raise over £1 million
which as well as benefiting Children In Need will be used to set
up a Fame Academy bursary to help young people achieve excellence
in the performing arts.
The
ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ is putting the profits that it would otherwise have made from
the sale of the Fame Academy record (which has currently sold over
half a million copies) towards the trust.
As
well as this money, the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ has also donated its share of the incidental
profit which was made from each 10p phone call to the Fame Academy
phone lines (which were set at the lowest rate allowed by BT).
Nine
million people tuned in to the Fame Academy final and over 14 million
votes were cast throughout the series. Despite the low rate per
call, the total amount raised through the phone lines exceeded £1
million.
This
money has been put aside until a trust has been formally set up
and will then be divided between a bursary for aspiring performers
and Children In Need.
By
the end of the Spring, a board of trustees will be set up to administer
the money and decide how it can best be used to benefit young performers.
Fame
Academy winner David Sneddon will sit on the board of the trust
alongside Controller of Entertainment Commissioning, Jane Lush,
and ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Talent's Lorna Clarke.
David
was a struggling young singer / songwriter busking on the streets
of Glasgow before he entered the Fame Academy.
His
training within the Academy resulted in winning the final vote and
signing a major record deal with Mercury Records - now he will have
the chance to help somebody else realise their dream.
His
first single, Stop Living A Lie, entered the charts at number one.
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