We caught up with Focusrite Bursary winner Christina John to see how her year at Tileyard Education has been shaping up so far.
Christina is a professional songwriter and topliner, with over 20 years of writing experience under her belt. She was already gaining success from her songwriting career before she started studying at Tileyard. Some of her success includes gaining a non-exclusive licensing agreement on a track she wrote with Platonic Music Group, and interest from BMG when she was establishing her career back in 2009.
Christina also met fellow songwriting student, Archie XN TricK at a Notting Hill Networking event at Tileyard back in 2017. They later collaborated creatively, and Christina co-wrote Archie’s first single ‘My Darling’ which received attention on local radio. Since then, the two have also collaborated on Archie’s up and coming single release ‘Selfish’ which is due to be released on the 8 March and are both currently working on the launch party that will be at The Batch, Peckham. The event is free and open to all.
Then in 2018, Christina took a leap of faith to become a full-time postgraduate student of MA Commercial Songwriting and Production at Tileyard Education to further establish her songwriting and to prioritise and build a full-time songwriting career.
Since arriving at Tileyard, Christina has been awarded a £2,500 bursary by Tileyard Education Partners Focusrite to assist with her course fees. She has also received a gift from partners Focusrite, which arrived just in time for Christmas, with thousands of pounds of Focusrite goodies to trial and keep! The gift included; KRK v4s4, Focusrite Clarett 2PRE USB interface, SE electronics x1s studio bundle, x1s large diaphragm. Christina will be publishing a monthly vlog showcasing her brand new Focusrite equipment in her home studio!
Christina’s choice of university was a no-brainer for her, she chose to study at Tileyard because of the rich and creative eco-system that exists here. She had been engaging with the wider Tileyard community since 2015, frequently attending Notting Hill Networking events. She said the biggest attraction for her was the expertise of the tutors on hand, the collaborative potential, and of course, the networking.
We’re looking forward to what the rest of this year has in store for Christina. You can follow her on her Instagram and Facebook to keep up to date with her projects!!
