Producer Brown Bannister Named Interim Director For Lipscomb University Music School

Brown Bannister

Music industry veteran Charlie Peacock is passing the baton as director of Lipscomb University’s George Shinn College Of Entertainment & the Arts, which houses the School of Music, to producer Brown Bannister.

Peacock, founding director of the university’s contemporary music program, is stepping down to devote time to addressing health issues that have been developing over the past year but will remain a member of the school’s advisory board. Peacock, who joined the George Shinn College of Entertainment & the Arts faculty as artist-in-residence in 2014, was named director of Lipscomb’s School of Music in 2015.

A graduate of Abilene Christian University, Bannister will head a transition team comprised of music industry veterans, including Amy Grant, Tim Lauer, Gordon Kerr, Randy Goodman, and Juanita Copeland. The transition team will oversee a national search for the next director of Lipscomb University’s School Of Music.

“Charlie has played a tremendous role in building a strong foundation for our multi-dimensional School of Music and in launching our contemporary music program,” said Mike Fernandez, Dean of the George Shinn College of Entertainment & the Arts. “Through his deep relationships in the music industry, he has developed numerous key connections for Lipscomb that will help the School of Music continue to flourish for years to come. We are grateful for his significant contribution to this program and most importantly to the many students he impacted during his time here. We wish him well as he takes time to tend to his health, and look forward to his continued input as a member of our advisory board.”

Under Peacock’s leadership, the contemporary music program was founded; overall music enrollment increased significantly and is now one of Lipscomb’s fastest-growing academic areas; a house near campus was renovated and developed into a “Music Row house” complete with a recording studio, editing suites and rehearsal space; an advisory board for the School of Music was formed; and music industry leaders and arts professionals joined the school as faculty, adjunct instructors and artists-in-residents to expand its technical and cultural reach, preparing 21st century creators, performing artists and educators for a lifetime of musical work. In May, Lipscomb University became owner of the Sound Emporium, one of Nashville’s vibrant recording studios for nearly 50 years with the goal of preserving the professional production capacity of the studio while looking for subtle ways for it to serve as a real-world learning lab for contemporary music students in the university’s George Shinn College of Entertainment & the Arts.