Peter Wareham Receives Paul Hamlyn Award

Paul Hamlyn was a renowned publisher and philanthropist who, in 1987, established the Paul Hamlyn Foundation as a way to manage his many charitable interests.

Hamlyn was such a well-liked and generous figure that he had areas of both the British Museum and the Royal Opera House named in his honour.

At his death in 2001, Hamlyn left most of his estate to his Foundation, creating an enormous legacy of grants for the arts which continues to this day. Each year, a group of talented people – a mixture of visual artists and composers – are selected to receive a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award. This year one of the lucky eight recipients was our very own Peter Wareham.

Peter works as Course Leader in Creative Musicianship at BIMM London, guiding and lecturing our students through their degree programmes. Peter himself is a graduate of the Leeds College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Musically he is a well-known and accomplished saxophonist whose work has seen him perform at legendary spots like New York’s Blue Note and Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London.

The Paul Hamlyn Award takes the form of a £50,000 financial bursary, paid over three years, providing artists with financial support while they focus on new projects and produce new work. Peter writes and plays with a number of musical collectives, including the jazz group F-IRE, Polar Bear, and Silver Birch (formerly known as Acoustic Ladyland).

Peter shared his reaction at winning the Award:

“To be a recipient of the Paul Hamlyn Award is absolutely fantastic. Such a wonderful boost to my confidence and my resources as an artist, and a real honour to be added to the ranks of such prominent and innovative practitioners.”

Everyone at BIMM is extremely proud of Peter for his success and we look forward to the wonderful work that will no doubt come out of it. Congratulations!