Musical Theatre Hopefuls Win BBC Funding

Commedia dell'arte show, dated 1657. Image via Wikipedia

The BBC Performing Arts Fund (PAF) has announced this year’s Training in Musical Theatre scheme.

The Fund has awarded £150,000 to 35 aspiring musical theatre performers for help with their tuition fees.

Training to be a musical theatre performer can be expensive – many vocational courses charge over £10, 000 per year.

With living expenses on top of this, a three-year training course can make for an eye-watering, prohibitive, figure.

The PAF scheme tries to help bridge the gap in students’ and their families’ financial resources.

All applicants have to demonstrate that being awarded a bursary will enable them to undergo training they might not otherwise be able to afford.

Applicants to the bursary must apply online, and their applications are assessed anonymously by a panel of industry judges.

Of more than 500 applicants, just 142 were invited to attend a week of auditions in London at the end of July.

The PAF’s four judges saw each person sing and gave second auditions to the most impressive performers.

Panel judges this year were Pippa Ailion, David Grindrod, Mary King and Trevor Jackson.

David Grindrod, PAF panel judge, British theatre and film casting director, said: “One never thought of the strong bond which has now been achieved between TV reality casting and musical theatre when we started How Do You Solve A Problem like Maria.

“Those people who stood in the wind and rain for hours to audition for our past shows, but were unsuccessful, now have the chance to obtain money to go towards training within the arts.”

Miriam O’Keeffe, Project Manager of the Performing Arts Fund, said: “We are delighted to be able to help so many talented and hard-working students with their training.”

As well as receiving funding, this year’s winners will undergo a weekend of workshops and master classes from West End professionals in association with the Musicians Benevolent Fund.

The BBC Performing Arts Fund is a registered charity, number 1101276. The charity was set up in 2003 within the BBC.