Mark Featherstone Witty

Early life and education

Born in London, to Evy and Philip Featherstone-Witty, he was an only child of parents who divorced when he was eleven. His secondary school was Wellington College (1959–1967) which proved an unsuitable school for the performing arts, although he did manage to produce, direct and act in a play. He charts his interest in the performing arts from the time he saw the 1933 film 42nd Street, when he was eight, at the National Film Theatre in London.

After an unsuccessful career start in accountancy and a few years teaching in prep schools in Kent and Oxford, he attended The University of Durham (1969–1972), taking a general degree and remained for a further year to gain a Postgraduate Certificate in Education. He edited the university newspaper ‘Palatinate’ and continued to direct plays and perform. He created and edited a regional arts magazine for the North-East of England, ‘Face North’.

Before leaving, he gained the Gertrude Cole Fellowship at Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida, which he completed a year later, in counselling and psychology (M.Ed.) and was also elected to the US highest honour society. During his year in the United States, he continued to perform and appeared as a hairdresser in the 1974 Sackett – Hugh film production ‘The Meal’, later renamed ‘Deadly Encounter’.

Career

After a spell in London comprehensive schools, he joined Macmillan Education as an Assistant Editor, co-creating one of their most successful English textbook series. He left to teach at The Leventhorpe School, a comprehensive school in Hertfordshire, while additionally being the Consultative Education Editor for Quartet Books (1984–1986) and writing book reviews and profiles for a variety of national magazines and newspapers.

He became Principal of Holborn Tutorial College for two years before founding his own tutorial college, Capital College, in 1980. For the next nine years, he either created, co-created or assisted two further private enterprise further education colleges (The London School of Insurance and The London School of Publishing) and a television production company (Rainbow Education) which developed a six-part television series, ‘Whose Town Is It Anyway?’ for the then embryonic Channel Four.

During this period, he watched Alan Parker’s’s film Fame and decided that the next venture was to be a performing arts school with a curriculum that focused on achieving lasting work in the arts and entertainment industry. He also decided that the school would be a charity and set about creating the vehicle ‘The Schools for Performing Arts Trust’, bringing Anthony Field, former Finance Director of The UK Arts Council, on board as the Chair and inviting Alan Parker to be the first Patron for what was simply an idea.

The start of The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA)

Raising the developmental and capital costs for a charitable school was tough. The Project Champion was Richard Branson, who had been introduced to Mark Featherstone-Witty by Sir George Martin – the man who Mark Featherstone-Witty still describes as the Godfather of both The BRIT School and LIPA. Through extraordinary timing, a variety of needs could be met through a new performing arts school in London. The Conservative Government needed an attractive project to invigorate its somewhat flagging City Technology College initiative and the British record industry needed political influence – the initially named ‘The London School for Performing Arts and Technology’ was to be the vehicle. It was an awkward birth and has been described in Mark Featherstone-Witty’s 2001 book 'Optimistic, Even Then’.

Through equally extraordinary timing, Paul McCartney was writing his Liverpool Oratorio and decided to relive his schooldays by visiting his old school, the Liverpool Institute for Boys. He was dismayed by the dereliction of the abandoned building and felt that it deserved better. Someone had suggested that Liverpool needed a performing arts school. This idea remained dormant until Sir George Martin suggested Paul McCartney met with Mark Featherstone-Witty.

At the time, well before Liverpool achieved the European Capital of Culture in 2008, Liverpool City Council decided that the city should capitalise on its music heritage and commissioned the report ‘Music City’. Pete Fulwell, then managing The Christians, found Mark Featherstone-Witty through Island Records, the record label the band was signed to.

It was the education/training section of the report that described LIPA’s blueprint.

Once again, led by Mark Featherstone-Witty, the developmental and capital funding proved inevitably hard. In the end, the £20m funding was split three ways: Liverpool City Challenge, The European Union and the private sector. The largest donors in the last category were Paul McCartney and the German consumer electronics company, Grundig.

LIPA opening to today

LIPA celebrated its tenth birthday in January 2006 with a performance at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and a new book, 'LIPA - The First Ten Years in Pictures', written by Mark Featherstone-Witty.

There have been a variety of highlights, the most rewarding being the achievement of the initial dream of sustained work. Most recent figures have shown that over the most recent four-year period, 95% of LIPA’s graduates are in work three years after leaving, while 87% work in the performing arts. To achieve this, the curriculum is constantly being revised.

LIPA was designated in 2006 – the first new higher education institution to have been started from scratch in living memory. As a performing arts HEI, LIPA is attended by the highest number of international students in the UK.

LIPA has been awarded the Gold Standard from Investors in People.

Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF): LIPA was placed in the gold category, achieving the 15th highest award in the country.

LIPA also has the highest concentration of Fellows and Associates recognised by The Higher Education Academy.

In September 2014, the LIPA Primary School opened with two reception classes. The school has once again been over-subscribed for September 2015 entry.

In September 2016, the LIPA Sixth Form College opened with 12 students above the planned upper target of 180.

Awards

He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to higher education.

In March 2015, Mark Featherstone-Witty was awarded the Officer of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit (Knight First Class).

In June 2017, he was awarded a Honorary Fellow of The Institute of the Arts Barcelona.

In July 2017, he was awarded a Honorary Fellowship by Liverpool John Moores University.

Other activities

He enjoys other activities close to his heart. He was the Chair of the Sefton Park Palm House – a restored Victorian temperate glass house in the park close to his home. He was a Board Member of the National Academy of Writing. He was a Director of Drama UK.He is a Board Member of the Royal Court Theatre Liverpool Trust which completed the first phase of restoration in 2011 and aims to further refurbish this grand art deco theatre.He has been a judge for The Liverpool Music Awards since 2012. He is a Member and Director of The LIPA Primary School, as well as the LIPA Sixth Form College. He is a Director of the Sell A Door Theatre Company. He encouraged Harvey Goldsmith to relocate his legacy experience 'The British Music Experience' to Liverpool where it has opened in the Cunard Building. He is now a Trustee, while LIPA is the educational partner.

Writing

2001 Optimistic, Event Then

2006 LIPA in Pictures; The First Ten Years

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