The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts

The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) is a specialist higher education provider for performers and those who make performance possible. Co-founded by Paul McCartney and Mark Featherstone-Witty, LIPA is based on the site of the old Liverpool Institute and the Liverpool Art College.

Having opened in 1996, today LIPA is an acknowledged part of the UK’s higher education provision for the performing arts, recognised and ranked alongside institutions a lot older.

It has a student population of approximately 770. LIPA’s worldwide reputation means 25% of students come from outside of the UK with representatives from every continent and over 40 countries.

LIPA trains students for a future of sustained work. Most recent figures have shown that over the most recent four-year period, 92% of LIPA’s graduates are in work three years after leaving, while 84% work in the performing arts.