The chair of the 2022 BRIT Awards, outgoing co-president of Polydor Records Tom March, has visited the BRIT School in South London to meet with students.
It follows this year’s show in February, which saw a range of innovative and creative digital partnerships launched to further drive engagement with a younger and global audience.
Alongside a tour of the school and watching rehearsals for upcoming plays by students, March gave a 45-minute masterclass to 30 music and creative arts students about his own career history after joining the music industry straight from school. He is heading to the US to lead Geffen Records.
The BRIT School is the UK’s first and leading free performing and creative arts school for 1,400 young people aged 14 to 19, and relies on the long-term support of The BRIT Trust, The BRIT Awards and of the wider music community.
Under March’s stewardship – supported by the co-chairs of the BRITs Digital Committee Luke Ferrar (Polydor) and Giuseppe de Cristofano (BPI) and the BRITs Committee – innovations were made during this year’s BRITs campaign.
The new developments for 2022 included the introduction of the Artist of the Year category and four new genre categories powered by TikTok; recognising all featured artists as nominees for the first time to include even more artists within the shortlists; and the nominations show move to a Saturday night primetime TV slot before Christmas.
Visiting the BRIT School was an inspiring opportunity to witness first-hand the enormous creative potential of the next generation of talent
Tom March
A number of partnerships were launched to expand the world of BRITs and its digital reach. This year saw the launch of the first ever BRITs NFTs1, an exclusive collaboration with eco-friendly platform Serenade, with NFTs created for the winners of categories including Artist of the Year and Mastercard Album of the Year. Proceeds contributed to funds raised by The BRIT Awards for music charity The BRIT Trust and the charities it supports, including The BRIT School.
Additionally, the first ever awards show VIP Party launched on Roblox culminated in an exclusive virtual concert experience with PinkPantheress in avatar form.
As Official Digital Music Partner, YouTube Shorts launched #BRITsUnseen, including exclusive content with 2022 nominees, collaborations with YouTube’s biggest creators and a bespoke YouTube Shorts red carpet moment on the night. YouTube also hosted the livestream of the BRITs for non-UK viewers for the ninth year.
Tom March said: “Visiting the BRIT School was an inspiring opportunity to witness first-hand the enormous creative potential of the next generation of talent and to bring home the vital importance of the charity element of the BRIT Awards in supporting the school and its work, and I am excited to see what the future holds for the school’s brilliant students in years to come. It was a fantastic way for me to close the book on my chairmanship of the BRIT Awards, which I have loved from start to finish.”
FOLLOW 
