‘Bloxham – it was the perfect breeding ground for exploring creativity’
Musician, Social Entrepreneur and Media Professional Scott Bowley (Sy 02-07) has translated his long-standing passion for music into a successful, multi-faceted career. Having accessed Bloxham via a Raymond Scholarship, he dedicated many of his hours at school to the Music Department where he was given the opportunity to explore his creativity. Scott went on to study at the University of Manchester (MMus Music) and Goldsmiths, University of London (MMus Studio Composition and Sonic Art) subsequently becoming a founding member of The Rising Sun Collective.
His creative journey has seen him not only develop a successful music career, but also an on-going career in media. Here, Scott tells us about his career path to date and reflects on how his Raymond Scholarship provided him with the platform for success.
“Bloxham – the perfect breeding ground for exploring creativity.”
What were the highlights of your time at school?
I had a very happy time overall at school. My focus was always music, and I spent a lot of time in the Music Department. It was the kind of place where, outside of the curriculum, you could really come up with any idea and the staff would make it happen. It was the perfect breeding ground for exploring creativity.
What A Levels did you take?
I studied Music, Music Technology, History and Politics at A Level. Music Technology was still quite a new A Level subject, but Bloxham had forward-thinking staff with a lot of real-world experience as professional musicians as well as an academic understanding of music technology which enabled the course to be a success.
Where did your time at Bloxham lead?
I went on to Manchester University to study Music. It was a classical music degree, but right on the cutting edge of what I’d consider to be classical music. With a new state of the art electroacoustic music research facility, the course at Manchester enabled me to work with the very latest music technology. I became very interested in exploring atonality and trying to create entirely new sounds in the studio environment as well as developing systems for creating live immersive electronic music performances with multiple loudspeakers. I think Bloxham had started off that process of exploration for me and then the course at Manchester felt like a natural progression.
What career path have you taken since finishing university?
After Manchester, I did a Master’s at Goldsmiths (University of London) in Studio Composition and Sonic Art where I further refined my music production skills and started creating sound installations for art galleries. I graduated from Goldsmiths with a group of like-minded people with whom I have created a music & art collective called The Rising Sun Collective. We acquired an ex pub in Peckham, built a studio in the beer cellar and created a versatile space where we can rehearse with our various bands and music projects, do small scale gigs and create art installations. We offer our facilities to the local community for free and over time this has led to The Rising Sun becoming a vibrant cultural hub with new artistic collaborations forming regularly.
The Rising Sun is effectively an incubator, providing artists with the physical and mental space to pursue their creative practice in a supportive environment with like-minded individuals. We have our own independent record label and a few of our artists have gone on to be signed by major labels after starting their music career at The Rising Sun. The Rising Sun has been the perfect environment to progress my own bands Crushed Beaks and 13XL whilst also producing music for other artists.
Aside from my music career, I’ve also been pursuing a career in media. Between my undergraduate course and my Masters, I won a place on the Vodafone graduate scheme. Even though I hadn’t studied marketing or business beyond my Business Studies GCSE with Col Stewart, Vodafone recognised the valuable transferable skills I’d learnt from years of getting up on stage to perform music and saw how that could be applied to presenting creative ideas in the board room.
Since Vodafone, I’ve worked for a couple of creative agencies on brand advertising campaigns for the likes of Stella Artois, Chanel, Sainsbury’s and Ibiza Rocks to name a few. I currently head up the creative agency arm of a next-gen digital publisher called SCREENSHOT Media, helping brands to authentically resonate with youth culture.
When you were at Bloxham you were the recipient of a Raymond Scholarship. How has that impacted you?
I was aware at the time that I had received financial support and I am immensely grateful for the Raymond Scholarship. Realistically I wouldn’t have attended Bloxham without the award, so it has hugely shaped my life. It is great that such a generous scholarship exists at the School and, having benefited from the scholarship myself, it makes me want to give back throughout my life in whatever ways I can.
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