BRIT School Chair of Trustees Josh Berger CBE Hosts Fundraiser Event at Ronnie Scott's for the UK’s leading free Arts School

02 July 2025 - Press release

Current and former students staged a showcase - representing all areas of the creative industries from dance and music to spoken word and musical theatre.

Former student and Ivor Novello award winning songwriter, Dan Gillespie Sells performed, and newly graduated rising star, Jos Rivers closed the show.

 

• Josh Berger CBE - Founder and Chairman of Battersea Entertainment and Chair of Trustees of The BRIT School and Stuart Worden OBE, Principal of The BRIT School, hosted a fundraiser at iconic music venue Ronnie Scott’s to raise funds for the School.

• To showcase the breadth of training offered at The BRIT School, Ivor Novello award winning songwriter and front person of The Feeling, Dan Gillespie Sells performed two tracks from ‘Twelve Stops and Home’, Never Be Lonely & Sewn. He then accompanied Hiba Elchikhe (‘Titanique’) who performed It Means Beautiful from ‘Everybody's Talking About Jamie’, the film and musical written by Dan Gillespie Sells. Hiba joined the cast of ‘Titanique’ in June 2025 playing Rose. Recent graduate and rising talent Jos Rivers closed the show with her original song. Joining the line- up was spoken word actor and producer Selorm Adonu and two dancers Titus Kasujja and Oliver Stewart.

• Additional funding is needed to continue to provide free world-class arts education, industry-standard facilities, wrap-around pastoral care and unique career opportunities offered to every one of the 1,500+ young artists.  The BRIT School is open to young people from all backgrounds providing a springboard and a shelter into the creative industries with 40% of students from low-income households and 41% of students from a Global Majority heritage. 

 

Stuart Worden OBE, Principal of The BRIT School said,  “All of the artists that come from this school in Selhurst are amazing. Tonight, they are all over the West End, across our TV and film screens and theatre and festival stages and that's thanks to people who support The BRIT School. Young people have dreams and those dreams won't ever happen for them unless a place is free. Otherwise, we're going to get a very different talent pipeline. The talent pipeline we want is diverse, it's from different backgrounds, and it's from different voices. That makes this country rich and exciting.”

Actor and alum Archie Madekwe  (Saltburn, Gran Turismo, Midsommar) said: “I don't know what my life would look like had it not been for The BRIT School. It really did unlock something in me. It gives you this superpower. It truly is the most special place in the world.”