Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation Awards £75K to NYT REP Company

Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation awards 28 new grants to support under-represented aspiring actors, musicians and craftspeople

• 28 new grants awarded worth a total of £686,133 to projects right across the UK
• One year on from the Foundation’s Centre Stage report, priority is given to projects that champion diversity and break down barriers
• A number of grants offer free, high-quality industry experience from professionals

This November, The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation has awarded grants worth a total of £686,133 to 28 projects across the UK and internationally. Championing the breaking down of barriers to engagement in the arts, many of the organisations rewarded this autumn will use their grant to specifically engage young people and those from hard-to-reach and minority backgrounds. This follows on from last December’s Centre Stage report, which urged the theatre profession to take action to improve the pipeline of diverse talent into the arts.From apprenticeships to PhDs, these projects will benefit people as far flung as America to across the UK in Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and throughout England to projects in Northampton, Newcastle Under Lyme, Portsmouth, Lancaster, Warwick, Newcastle Upon Tyne and Norwich.

The second highest grant goes to the renowned National Youth Theatre REP Company. Awarded £75,000 over 3 years, the grant funds places for young talented 18-25 year olds to train with highly regarded, established theatre practitioners. The REP Company provides free and exceptional experience and mentoring from industry professionals to 16 young people each year from culturally and geographically disadvantaged areas. The NYT REP was launched in 2012 in reponse to the rise in tuition fees and offers a free alternative to expensive formal training.

You can catch the 2017 NYT REP Company in the West End until Friday 8 December 2017. More information here.

Other recipients include: Mercury Musical Developments, Masterclass Trust, Live Theatre, Wales Millennium Centre, JMK Trust, New Vic Theatre, Northampton Theatres Trust Ltd, The Dukes Theatre, Square Chapel Arts Centre, Punchdrunk, Warwick Arts Centre, The Jessye Norman School of Arts, Wac Arts, Greyscale Theatre Company, Frozen Light Theatre, Historic Wales Heritage Angel Awards, Gainsborough House, Churches Conservation Trust, Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain (SAHGB), Chetham’s School of Music, Ulster Orchestra, Northampton’s Music and Performing Arts Trust, Chineke! Orchestra, MiSST, Gorsebrook School, Urban Vocal Group and William Mathias Music Centre.

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For further information on the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, please contact Four Colman Getty at:

Laura Steele laura.steele@fourcommunications.com/020 3697 4241
Truda Spruyt Truda.spruyt@fourcommunications.com/020 3697 4248/07740 725206

About The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation
• The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation was set up by Andrew in 1992 to promote the arts, culture and heritage for the public benefit; since inception Andrew has been the principal provider of funding for all its charitable activities.

• In 2010, the Foundation embarked on an active grant giving programme and has now awarded grants of £18m to support high quality training and personal development as well as other projects that make a real difference to enrich the quality of life both for individuals and within local communities. Significant grants include £3.5m to Arts Educational Schools, London to create a state of the art professional theatre, £2.4m to The Music in Secondary Schools Trust, £1m to The Architectural Heritage Fund, $1.3m to the American Theatre Wing and over £300,000 annually to fund 30 performing arts scholarships for talented students in financial need. www.andrewlloydwebberfoundation.com