ArtsEd's famous foyer was buzzing last night as guests enjoyed a pre-show drinks reception to celebrate the launch of a ArtsEd Friends, our new annual giving scheme. Principal, Chris Hocking spoke about the high calibre and dedication of all the students who train here in Acting and Musical Theatre, and invited everyone to consider becoming an ArtsEd Friend to ensure that we have the support that our students need to keep future talent thriving. 
 
There is a Friend level to suit all budgets. You can start as a Fan at just £10 a month, or become an Admirer (£500 pa), an Enthusiast (£1,500 pa) or a wonderfully generous Champion at £3,000 pa. We are determined that the most talented young people in the country should be able to benefit from the outstanding training here. Every year, financial pressures mean that students of great promise face the prospect of turning down their place or even leaving their course before finishing. By becoming an ArtsEd Friend you will help keep ArtsEd at the forefront of UK drama schools and ensure talent wins out over financial hardship.
 
Miriam-Teak Lee, a 2017 graduate who went straight into On The Town at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and will soon be in the musical Hamilton, spoke enthusiastically about her time at ArtsEd and how it prepared her for a successful West End career. Director of Bullets Over Broadway, John Brant, ended the speeches with praise for ArtsEd students and graduates for being the best to work with in the industry – hardworking, polite and respectful. And of course, immensely talented.
 
The audience left Bullets Over Broadway on a high – following a wonderful demonstration of the success of ArtsEd’s unique triple threat training, not to mention a fantastic set design, costumes and band. It's a team effort!
 
We welcome all new Fans, Admirers, Enthusiasts and Champions!

ArtsEd's Youth Dance Company gave a stunning performance at the Royal Albert Hall in November as part of this year's Dance Proms, which marked the final Proms. 

Dance Company Director, Christopher Reynolds was delighted with their performance:

'ArtsEd Youth Dance Company were fantastic, they worked incredibly hard during rehearsals and this was seen in their professional attitude and performance at the Royal Albert Hall. Huge congratulations to all the dancers and thank you to all the parents for their continued support of the Day School and Sixth Form.'

While Headteacher Adrian Blake said: “I’m enormously proud of all the students in Dance Company, and Mr Reynolds the Company Director – performing at The Royal Albert Hall is such an incredible opportunity! With students singing at The London Palladium last week, and students dancing at The Royal Albert Hall just a few days later, this is a wonderful time to be part of ArtsEd!”

The Dance Proms brings together dance teachers and their students, aged between 5 and 21 years, from around world to create original dance pieces using any style of dance in their own schools or studios.Since 2011, when three of the world’s leading dance examination boards, the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD), the International Dance Teachers’ Association (IDTA), and the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) joined forces with the Royal Albert Hall, Dance Proms has been an international celebration of dance, dancers and dance teachers. The first ever Dance Proms involved 450 young people performing in front of an audience of 3,000 and was a huge success with both performers and audience.

Technology is now used to encourage the sharing of ideas and experience and the opportunity to interact with respected dance professionals and high-profile names in the industry. It also allows the wider public to engage with and shape the project by offering an online public voting element. For more details see http://www.danceproms.co.uk/

American actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth is known for her outstanding performances across both stage and screen. Winning a Tony Award for her performance in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Kristin went on to originate the role of Glinda in Wicked on Broadway, securing her status as one of musical theatre’s finest.

An Intimate Evening With Kristin Chenoweth at the London Palladium on Friday 20th October further cemented her reputation among the star-studded London audience. ArtsEd’s Sixth Form students had the honour of joining Kristin on stage, with theatre greats including Elaine Paige, Leslie Bricusse, Michael Mayer and Andrew Lippa watching on.

The students rehearsed for the performance under the guidance of teachers Rob Bannon and Joe Wilson.

Mr Bannon was delighted to see the students shine on stage: “What a special evening this was! The students had the experience of a lifetime working under Musical Director, extraordinaire, Michael Orland as well as performing with Kristin on stage at the Palladium. Kristin had the extraordinary ability to treat the students like her peers rather than her backing ensemble and the students really stepped up to the plate! Professional, talented and passionate are three words that come to mind when describing how our students approached the rehearsals and performance. It is an experience that neither I nor the students will forget in a long time. I am incredibly proud of them.”

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Applications are open to join ArtsEd Sixth Form in 2018 – click here to find out more.

ArtsEd is delighted to announce that third year Acting student Omar Ahmed (pictured, third from left) has been awarded a Laurence Oliver Bursary. Drama students from across the UK were awarded £77,500 worth of bursaries by the Society of London Theatre to help them complete their training. Drama school principals across the region can nominate two students, who then audition in front of a panel at a West End theatre and are interviewed by a panel of theatre industry professionals led by West End producer and Chair of the Laurence Olivier Bursaries Committee, Lee Menzies. This year’s auditions took place at St Martin’s Theatre.

Previous bursary winners include Ewan McGregor, Michaela Coel, Paterson Joseph and Denise Gough.

Director of the School of Acting, Gareth Farr says: 'We are extremely proud and thrilled that Omar has received this award. He is a very worthy recipient who has shown dedication and determination from his very first day at ArstEd. It is fantastic to see his talent and hard work recognised by an esteemed panel of industry professionals.'

Omar's first role this term is Sam in The Suicide, written by Suhayla El-Bushra and directed by Alex Thorpe.

The Suicide opens in the Studio Theatre on 28 November – book tickets here.

ArtsEd is constantly seeking the UK’s most exciting new acting talent. To this end, in early 2018 we will hold auditions for our BA Acting course outside of London for the first time, in Manchester and Swansea. The audition process will include an illuminating insight into our BA Acting course and daily life at ArtsEd from key ArtsEd tutors and alumni.

Gareth Farr, Director of the School of Acting sees the regional auditions as an essential step in the continuing development of ArtEd’s outstanding training offer:

“We know that there are fantastic young actors right across the country. However, students with exceptional potential can’t always make it to a London audition, so we want to bring the audition to you. If you want to train at drama school then we want to see YOU at one of our auditions.”

Each audition session will start with a warm-up workshop led by an ArtsEd Acting Tutor, candidates will then be required to perform two monologues. Successful applicants will be invited to a recall audition in London. Here you will learn more about ArtsEd’s distinctive training, split 50/50 between stage and screen techniques, view our excellent facilities and experience the uniquely vibrant atmosphere of our Chiswick home.

Audition Dates:

Swansea – Saturday 20th January 2018
Manchester – Saturday 3rd February 2018
London – dates available November – June

How You Can Join Us In 2018

You can make your application online via the ArtsEd website. During this process you will be able to select your preferred audition location.
Click here to find out more about the audition process and start your application today!

BA (Hons) Acting – 3 Year Full-Time Training

We are passionate about training confident, committed and creative actors. Our three-year Acting degree has a unique 50:50 balance between training for screen and stage which ensures graduates work comfortably across all areas of today’s industry. Led by tutors who understand the demands of different disciplines, the School of Acting training is intensive and highly relevant.

Our fantastic facilities include:

Purpose-built rehearsal studios
TV and radio recording suites
Two professionally equipped and purpose-built performance spaces, The Studio Theatre and The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation Theatre

Recent graduates have secured fantastic work including: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare's Globe), Kingsman: The Golden Circle (Twentieth Century Fox), EastEnders (BBC) and Imperium Part I: Conspirator (Royal Shakespeare Company).

The inaugural ‘The Stage Debut Awards’ on Sunday 17th September 2017, celebrated actors and creatives who have made their professional theatre debuts in the past twelve months.

Miriam-Teak Lee, 2017 Musical Theatre graduate, took home the award for 'Best Actress in a Musical' for her outstanding performance in On the Town at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in London.

In her acceptance speech Miriam-Teak shared her mother’s advice ‘whatever you put in, is what you get out’, a maxim she applies to each and every one of her performances. She also thanked ArtsEd Principal, Chris Hocking, and her brother, Dex Lee, a fellow ArtsEd alumnus, for their support and inspiration.

If you missed Miriam-Teak in On The Town, your next chance to see her on stage will be in the hotly anticipated West End opening of Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre alongside Tarinn Callender, a fellow 2017 graduate.

Huge congratulations also go to ArtsEd graduates Siena Kelly and Daniel Urch for their Debut Award nominations for wonderful performances in On the Town and 10 in the Shade at Ye Olde Rose and Crown.

ArtsEd has been ranked as the top drama school for overall student satisfaction in the 2017 National Student Survey. The survey gives final year undergraduates a chance to comment on their course and institution, asking 27 questions relating to eight different apects of the learning experience. NSS talks to students across the UK and nearly 3 million have taken part. 

This was the first time that ArtsEd had entered the survey and it was rewarding to find out that 97% of our students were pleased with their training overall. We hope this actively encourages all those hoping to come to ArtsEd and launch their own musical theatre and acting careers. 

Principal Chris Hocking said: “We are continually reviewing and refining our acting and musical theatre courses to ensure that the training we provide is of the highest quality and prepares students for the particular demands of today’s industry. Our students have always had a strong and positive voice within ArtsEd and we are delighted that this is now reflected in the National Student Survey results.”

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for news of all ArtsEd courses, shows and students' ongoing success.

Once again ArtsEd Day School has produced an excellent set of GCSE results – congratulations to everyone in Year 11!

100% of Year 11 students achieved six or more GCSEs at Grade C (4/5) or higher, with many students securing eight or nine passes
Our ‘old measurement’ of five A*-C with Maths and English is 88%, which is an increase of 14% on last year and equals our highest ever GCSE results
37.4% of all GSCE results were A*-A
95.4% of all GCSE results were A*-C which is our highest ever A*-C statistic

“We are delighted that our Year 11 students have done so fantastically well with their exam results, especially in a time of such change in the landscape of GCSEs. To achieve our best ever results, when most schools have been told to expect a dip in their A*-C statistic, is particularly pleasing. These results show that ArtsEd builds on strong learning relationships between staff and students; it is always our expectation that individuals can surpass baseline predictions and achieve more than they ever thought possible”.  

Adrian Blake, Headteacher

Sixth Form students at ArtsEd celebrate the school’s best ever results today. School records were broken with outstanding results in both BTECs, a superb 99% at grade A-A* equivalent, and A Levels, 38% at A* – A and 74% A* – B.  Combined, these results brings the school’s overall A* – B achievement to 90% for the first time.

The hard work of our Sixth Form leavers has really paid off this year. They will be leaving us for an impressive range of destinations including; RADA, LAMDA, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, The Ailey School in New York, University of Bristol and University of Exeter with many choosing to continue their training here at ArtsEd.

Adrian Blake, Headteacher said: “I'm really proud of the students, and staff, who have worked together so successfully to raise the bar yet again and secure such fantastic results”.

If you are interested in joining our Sixth Form or Day School, we would be delighted to welcome you at our upcoming Open Evenings – click here to find out more.

Sixth Form (Yr 12 Entry) – Tuesday 26 September at 6pm
Day School (Yrs 7-10 Entry) – Wednesday 27 September at 6pm

Jane Harrison is retiring from ArtsEd in July after eight successful years of leading the school as Principal and eight years prior to that as Director of the School of Acting. She has overseen many changes and improvements during her time in post, including the launch of The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation Theatre in 2013.

At a recent leaving party at ArtsEd, Jane said that she was sad to be saying goodbye to staff and students, but knows that Chris Hocking (pictured above with Jane), currently Deputy Principal and Director of the School of Musical Theatre, will do a “fantastic job” when he takes up the role of Principal in September.

Mark Burch, Chair of the Trustees, thanked Jane for all her hard work and dedication over the years, while long-term member of staff Elspeth Morrison delivered a rousing farewell speech full of memories and good humour.

Everyone at ArtsEd would like to thank Jane for her huge contribution and wish her all the best for the future. She will, of course, be invited to all the shows!

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