Guildhall School introduces centres dedicated to performing and production arts training for young people
Guildhall School of Music & Drama has announced Guildhall Young Artists, a network of centres that provides inspiring performing and production arts training for children and young people. The network of six centres sees Guildhall School become one of the largest providers of specialist individualised performing arts education for under-18s in the UK.
The series is formed of six centres: Centre for Young Musicians, Junior Guildhall, King’s Cross, Norwich, Taunton and Guildhall Young Artists Online all of which provide training, teaching and support for children and young people wanting to experience performing arts and backstage skills. This helps realise the full potential of children and young people, with courses developed to progress their skills and experience the arts.
Each centre is run and overseen by the school, in partnership with arts venues and local providers of education, including schools, local authorities and Music Hubs. These partnerships ensure that children and young people attending Guildhall Young Artists centres have access to opportunities to develop and enrich their experiences as creative individuals.
Over 1500 students currently participate in centre activities, including weekly Saturday courses and orchestras. Bursary support is offered to nearly 20% of participants across all Guildhall Young Artists centres and almost 40% of participants are from the global majority. Students come from over 700 schools nationally, and from 23 counties, to attend each week. Taster sessions are offered at Guildhall Young Artists Norwich, Taunton and King’s Cross to give participants a better feel for the classes that they would like to take part in.
Regardless of their ultimate career direction, the professional artistic environment of Guildhall Young Artists provides students with valuable life skills and the means to develop their individual talents to the full. Many students go on to study their chosen discipline full-time at undergraduate level, with 132 students aged 16-18 from the network going on to study music or drama at higher education in the last three years.
