We are pleased to announce the winners of our Training in Musical Theatre scheme!



Through the scheme this year a total of £150,000 has been awarded to 62 students to contribute towards the costs of their musical theatre training.



10 drama schools and colleges successfully applied for a grant. They then identified their most talented and motivated performers in financial need who would not be able to complete their musical theatre training without our help. Grants have been awarded to ease the pressures of paying their tuition fees and to allow the winning students to focus on developing and growing as performers.



We believe that these bright young 'triple threat' performers will go on to have fantastic careers in musical theatre and we cannot wait to see what they achieve!



This is the 5th consecutive year we’ve run the Training in Musical Theatre scheme. In total we have awarded over £700,000 to 213 performers (which is more than 5 times the London cast of The Phantom of the Opera!) Previous winners have gone on to appear in the West End, in UK and international tours, and many are currently appearing in pantomimes up and down the country.

Past Training in Musical Theatre winner Zoe Doano on stage in Grease

Miriam O'Keeffe, Director of the BBC Performing Arts Fund, said:



“Training to be a musical theatre performer requires not only talent and dedication, but also significant financial resources. We are delighted to be able to relieve some of the burden on these hard working and promising young stars and we look forward to following their careers in the future.”





The winning colleges are:



Arts Educational Schools, London – 11 recipients



Bird College, Sidcup – 6 recipients



Cambridge Performing Arts, Cambridge – 2 recipients



Laine Theatre Arts, Epsom – 4 recipients



Midlands Academy of Dance and Drama, Nottingham – 3 recipients



Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, London – 9 recipients



Royal Academy of Music, London – 10 recipients



SLP College, Leeds – 12 recipients



Urdang Academy, London – 3 recipients



WAC Performing Arts and Media College, London – 2 recipients





What some of our winners have said:



“The Royal Academy of Music is hugely grateful to the BBC Performing Arts Fund and the support that it has offered our Musical Theatre students over the years. Many students have been able to realise their dream of studying here only as a result of the financial support the BBC has generously given them.”

Stephen Minay, Musical Theatre Company Coordinator



“This grant will help me so much toward my tuition fees at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, I feel like a weight has been lifted of my shoulders. I can't thank the BBC Performing Arts Fund enough!”

Scott Slater, 1st year student at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts



“Without this support I wouldn't be able to continue living my dream at Bird College. I am forever thankful to the BBC for giving me this opportunity, funding for the arts is limited nowadays and I feel very privileged to be one of the lucky ones to be awarded support.”

Hannah Lancaster, 1st year student at Bird College



Congratulations to all the winners and we look forward to sharing your success stories in the future.



You can download a list of all the winning students here and to see the full press release please visit the BBC Media Centre website.