South African film and performance school AFDA has announced the appointment of local music industry legend Brad Holmes as the new driving force behind the school’s music performance discipline, part of the BA Live Performance degree.
As a self-starter with the Bassline live music venue in Johannesburg, Holmes is a successful music promotion and staging entrepreneur with the likes Live8 South Africa, eight years of Africa Day and three years of the Arts Alive International festival behind him.
Homes now believes that its time to give back; he heads up a unique music course that offers training for aspirant musicians to create a sustainable career behind the mike or behind the scenes.
“I have been in the music business for 19 years and have had the honour of working with fantastic talent like Abdullah Ibrahim, SAMA Award 2011 winner Professor, Baaba Maal, and international super star Sean Kingston to name but a few. In this time I have also come into contact with many aspirant musicians battling to forge a music career without the necessary skills to do so. This is where I would like to give back to the industry, running a degree programme that marries talent and business and theory and practice – giving new talent the skills to forge a sustainable career in this very tough industry,” says Holmes.
AFDA offers an authentic learning environment for students to meet the vocational challenges of a post- modern society, ensuring that students receive the appropriate skills to create entertainment products that meet the demands of local and international audiences. Music students get to collaborate with student filmmakers, TV producers and actors alike, together growing and developing in their fields of specialization to create the various facets of the future entertainment industry of South Africa.
Holmes adds: “It is not just about being talented it’s more about developing, managing and sustaining your talent through learning and experience.”
