Academy of Contemporary Music


The Academy of Contemporary Music is a music academy in with campuses in Guildford, Birmingham and London providing contemporary music degrees and postgraduate qualifications, along with other creative industries subjects like games development.
The school of music has a focus on rock, pop music, electronic dance music and a vocational approach. The school has links with Guildford's Electric Theatre, Guildford College, Middlesex University, Metropolis Studios, and University of Surrey.
WWW acm.ac.uk

History

The Academy of Contemporary Music was created by guitar tutor Phil Brookes and Peter Anderton of Andertons Music Co. In the 2000s, the academy partnered with three educational establishments for awarding qualifications: Guildford College which grants BTEC/Edexcel awards for the lower discipline, Middlesex University and the University of Surrey. The latter validate the Certificate in Higher Education for the intermediate discipline, award degrees at BA (Hons) and BMus through to an MA in contemporary music in partnership with ACM.
In August 2013, ownership of ACM was acquired by Kainne Clements, who also co-owns Metropolis Studios.
In May 2025 ACM was brought under the ownership of Richard Connell, CEO of Metropolis Studios, and Gordon Sweeney, installed as CEO of ACM.

Awards

In May 2008, ACM was awarded The Queen's Award for Enterprise: Innovation (Technology). In late 2009, with support from the University of Central Oklahoma, ACM opened a base outside of the UK in Downtown Oklahoma City, appointing Scott Booker as executive director.

Previous students

Alumni / former students of ACM include: