Derby Theatre is one of only eight arts venues in the UK to have been selected by HRH The Prince of Wales’s charity The Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts for its 2013/2014 Start programme.
Start, now in its seventh year, gives arts venues the funding and specialist support to run long-term, high-quality arts projects with schoolchildren.
The Start programme is designed to reach children from social and economically disadvantaged backgrounds who have little experience of arts activities.
As a result of Derby Theatre’s successful bid, Start will give Da Vinci Community College in Breadsall, Bemrose School on Uttoxeter Road in the city and Kingsmead School on Bridge Street in Derby “the means and motivation to take their children to see inspirational performances”.
Through Start, each child will experience two professional performances over a year and have the opportunity to go behind the scenes to meet artists, directors, technicians, actors, choreographers and other performers.
Derby Theatre’s head of learning Caroline Barth said, “The Start funding enables us to develop a really meaningful relationship with schools over the next three years.
“We have the opportunity to do something really special with the young people involved. We want to include their ideas from the beginning, to enable this project to become one of those memorable learning experiences that the young people involved in will take with them forever.”