Regent Park School of Music: Sample School by BBDO

For the kids at Toronto’s Regent Park School of Music (RPSM), getting the opportunity to work with a Grammy Award-winning producer Frank Dukes, was just the beginning. RPSM students can now count a global superstar among their collaborators.

BBDO Toronto was brought onboard a year ago to help find a way the school could raise money in support of the musical curriculum at RPSM. When the innovative fundraising program ‘Sample School’ was born and pitched to Frank Dukes, he was so enamoured by the idea he quickly jumped on board.

BBDO Toronto, RPSM and Dukes worked in tandem to produce, record and document the amazing talents of the RPSM students to create this first ever music library to fund musical education. Toronto-born Dukes spent three days working alongside 14 RPSM students at The Weeknd’s “House of Balloons” studio to create the album called “Parkscapes.”.

This innovative campaign is the first time ever that musical compositions can be transformed directly into donations. Every time an artist (like Swift) uses a song from the “Parkscapes” album, licensing fees, royalties and residuals will be paid out to the school for the life of the song. It’s a sustainable donation that keeps giving, year over year.

Dukes shared one of the compositions with Swift, who decided to incorporate it into her album. She loved the music and the fact that she would be able to support the students at the music school.

When Taylor Swift released her seventh studio album Lover, her song It’s Nice to Have a Friend incorporates a composition from the track Summer in the South from the Parkscapes album. Dukes shared one of the compositions with Swift, who decided to incorporate it into her album. She loved the music and the fact that she would be able to support the students at the music school. On top of using a composition from the students on her album, Swift also made a generous donation to the school.

The 11-track album is named from a mash-up of the expression “sonic landscapes” and Regent Park and is hosted on Dukes’ Kingsway Music Library, which houses a collection of original samples created by the music producer and composer.