for the Berlin School of Popular Arts
Developments and opportunities
Prof. Robert Lingnau, Academic Director of the Berlin School of Popular Arts (SOPA)
"As an academic co-founder of the Berlin School of Popular Arts (SOPA) and the Academic Director I am fortunate how things have developed over the past decade: Beginning with 25 students on our mission to offer a modern approach toward study programmes around media, music and management in the cultural and creative industries, our school currently has about 600 students from all imaginable countries.
In the field in which we work, personal interaction is very important while we learn, explore, organise, produce, and present. Realising media products and events requires specifically equipped rooms and quite a few technical resources. With our new campus, these will be remarkably expanded for our students to run free in their creative and artistic paths and their media and management endeavours. As we take arts and entertainment seriously, we will assist your projects to ensure it breathes your individual touch, taste, attitude, and signature. Staff and administration will gladly support you in your campus experience, offering an open and encouraging atmosphere.
The new campus finally unites our four SRH schools in Berlin under one roof. This is a major step in our development, as it also allows us to get even closer in touch with students and staff from a much broader range than just the SOPA framework: We are looking forward to all projects emerging from this widened range of opportunities to meet and to work on stunning results collaboratively."
“Because of our focus on media, music, and management in the creative industries at the Berlin School of Popular Arts (SOPA), our new campus will offer a wide variety of functional spaces and resources to support students in their projects on their journey.
In terms of music and audio, our studios cover a broad range of needs: A sizeable cinematic control room suitable for public presentations, an audiovisual media lab with surround sound, and a regular music studio. These are connected to a large recording room and a vocal booth and are also used for seminars. Furthermore, a sound lab to tinker with audio ideas, a broadcasting studio, and a project studio are there for you to realise your ideas. A dozen equipped rehearsal rooms for bands, individual sessions and team productions can be booked to improve your skills. Additionally, we are creating seminar rooms specifically designed for teaching topics like composition, production, and performance.
For students in the area of film, moving images and photography, three large main studios open their doors for your projects. Next to these rooms, we will offer a video control room for events, numerous design studios, labs, and eight editing suites for postproduction needs, along with further purposeful facilities in that area. As far as the management and creative writing courses are concerned, our students' work is mainly embedded in artistic projects and they will therefore realise some of their ideas with the support of these facilities. To collaboratively work on strategies and goals, a start-up lab, open spaces, and other working environments are at your disposal.
To present your projects and enchant your audience and partners, our new campus will feature three separate stages: Our main event location for approximately 250 guests and a stage of 40 square meters reflects state-of-the-art audio, lighting on moveable rigs, a video wall as well as audiovisual equipment to present, record and stream our events. Aside from this, there is a smaller theatre/rehearsal stage as well as an additional stage on the top floor with a beautiful view as its backdrop. Our media lab is happy to assist you with all the necessary equipment and our library offers any resources you might need for your studies and projects. To round it all off, food and drinks are available at various locations on our campus.