Apiary-backed Access Creative College acquires dBs

Access Creative College (ACC), a leading, independent college for the creative industries has acquired dBs, the sound & music institute. The move represents an expansion of the further education and higher education provision for ACC, offering learners a coherent, connected and defined journey from post-16 to degree level.

From its Bristol and Plymouth campuses, dBs currently offers specialist music and sound production courses to help students build meaningful careers in the audio industry. ACC delivers vocational education in the creative industries to over 3,000 students at campuses in major cities across England. It offers courses in computing, games, media, music and events at specialist campuses in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, York, Lincoln, and Norwich. The college aims to prepare young people for careers in the creative and digital industries through innovative, practical employment-led training.

“We want to provide students with a coherent, connected and defined journey in their learning, at whichever point they choose to study from leaving school through to degree level”, said Jason Beaumont, CEO at ACC. “dBs has a very strong track record in successfully delivering technical degrees up to postgraduate level. Our plans are to build on this and develop a suite of degrees for our progressing students across all our provision.”

Jessica French, Investment Manager at ACC’s backers, Apiary Capital, commented: “We are delighted to be supporting Jason’s ambitious plans to grow ACC’s higher education provision across the country and this acquisition is an important first step in offering a new kind of experience for learners in the creative and digital sector.”