Leicester Curve’s chief executive Chris Stafford and artistic director Nikolai Foster have received honorary Doctor of Arts degrees from De Montfort University.
The university’s chair of governors and Curve’s former chair of trustees, Ian Squires, said, “it’s no over-statement to say that Chris Stafford and Nikolai Foster ‘invented’ Curve as it is today. Chris and Nikolai have made the theatre the crucible of the art form.
“In the hands of Chris and Nikolai, it’s as if this theatre has become an instrument, and it’s one they play with great skill, invention and verve.”
Stafford and Foster’s partnership began in 2015, and they have since overseen productions at the theatre’s Leicester home, in the West End and on tour nationally and internationally.
They said, "it’s an honour for us to receive these honorary degrees alongside the many brilliant DMU students who we congratulate on their achievements. We're humbled to have shared this special day with them.
"DMU and its students contribute enormously to our city and we're proud to have maintained a close partnership with the university over many years. To receive this honour on-stage here at Curve from an organisation we admire greatly really does mean so much to us both.”