Bridges for Music Academy
Cape Town non-profit music academy in Langa that trains township youth in DJing, production and music business, and runs its own label arm, BFM Records.
- Based in
- Langa, Cape Town, South Africa
- Founded
- 2014
- Founder
- Valentino Barrioseta
- Website
- bridgesformusic.org
Bridges for Music is a non-profit music academy based in Langa, Cape Town’s oldest township. Founded in 2014 by music-industry entrepreneur Valentino Barrioseta and funded initially by an annual charity cycle tied to Amsterdam Dance Event, it moved into a purpose-built 2,000-square-metre campus in Langa in August 2019, built with backing from Nando’s. The academy runs free courses in DJing, music production, entrepreneurship and music business for unemployed township youth, working with roughly 250 students a year.
As an NGO, Bridges for Music sits outside the ownership questions that apply to commercial labels and distributors, but it operates two things that put it inside the music business proper: BFM Records, a label arm that releases its students’ music, and an Industry Access programme that places graduates directly into music-industry jobs. It has drawn equipment and mentorship support from AlphaTheta (Pioneer DJ’s parent company) and public backing from artists including Black Coffee, Skrillex and Ed Sheeran.
The organisation is run day to day by programme director Rosemary Blake, who has been with it since its founding. It matters in South Africa’s electronic and Amapiano scenes as one of the few structured pipelines from township communities into DJing, production and music-business careers.
