Guildhall to launch training network for young people

Guildhall School of Music and Drama has announced that it is launching a new national training network in performance and production for children and young people. 

Coined the Guildhall Young Artists network, the project will include an online centre for remote study, as well as working with the Centre for Young Musicians in Waterloo, Junior Guildhall at the Barbican, plus centres in Kings Cross, Norwich and Taunton. 

The network will offer a range of one-to-one training, group lessons and holiday courses in both music and drama. 

‘A lack of investment and prioritisation of performing arts in state education’ over the past decade has ‘closed down’ opportunities for young people, says Alison Mears, director of Guildhall Young Artists. 

‘Guildhall Young Artists is our response, as a leading conservatoire, to help increase and broaden the country’s talent pipeline, and to enable more young people to perform, create, improvise and collaborate at the highest level,’ she continues. 

Jonathan Vaughan, principal of Guildhall, said the network demonstrated ‘the depth and breadth of Guildhall School’s commitment to children and young people’.

He continued: ‘Our vision of becoming a sector leader in lifelong learning in the arts is being realised as we work to ensure the boundaries between the different levels of our training are porous, and that people at every stage of life can learn with Guildhall School.’