A new secondary school for Northampton with the emphasis on cultural and creative learning is being explored by the town’s Royal and Derngate.
The idea was revealed at an event to mark ten years since the venue reopened. The theatre also announced it is working to commission and support new musical theatre which it expects to present in a festival format.
Royal and Derngate and creative digital agency Balance believe a new school for Northampton could be a positive solution to the cultural sector’s concerns that arts education is increasingly being disregarded within secondary schools.
Before the end of 2016, Royal and Derngate and Balance will host a series of events intended to shape the new school’s vision. Anyone interested in joining the conversation should visit the Northampton new school web site.
Sarah Pearson, director of New Schools Network, a charity which works with groups wanting to set up new schools, said, “groups like Royal and Derngate which are embedded in their communities are well positioned to bring teachers, existing schools and other experts together to create schools that really meet the needs of local children.”
Royal and Derngate’s chief executive Martin Sutherland added, “we need to seek the support of educators, thinkers, artists, young people and parents who can help us develop our vision regarding creative learning in Northampton.”
At the event, artistic director James Dacre described how Royal and Derngate has got together with Scottish Opera, Musical Theatre Network, Perfect Pitch, Improbable, China Plate and Underbelly to commission, develop and support new work ranging from opera to musicals.
He explained, “for a long time we’ve felt that the scale and demands of new musicals and operas exclude theatres and organisations like ours, which lack the finances and resources to realise them.
“So we’re interested in a new model for creating music theatre that can liberate writers, composers and creators from the barriers they’ve previously faced in originating new work and still be audience-friendly, locally relevant, collaborative and deeply imaginative.”