This year's Optimist Summer 2025 course is suitable for emerging producers, artists, and creative practitioners who are hoping to develop their skills as professional producers, or as a producer of their own work, in the subsidised arts sector.
Drawing on China Plate’s extensive experience and real examples in theatre producing, The Optimists provides knowledge and insight on the practicalities of making, funding, touring, and promoting your work.
The Optimists course is led by China Plate, with the support of guest industry experts and speakers.
The course is open to participants nationwide, and those working across different art forms (e.g., dance, live art, spoken word, etc.) but has a particular focus on producing and touring live work in the theatre industry.
Sessions: 10 in-person sessions taking place over 7 weeks
Dates: Between Saturday 14 June and Saturday 2 August 2025
Location: Venues across the West Midlands
Spaces: For up to 20 participants
Costs:
Bursaries are available, covering the full cost of the course, to those who have faced prejudice, discrimination and/or cultural barriers due to factors including (but not limited to) race, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion, neurodiversity, socioeconomic status, and geographic location.
Deadline for applications is 12pm (midday) on Friday 23 May
Please visit our website for more information about the course, including application guidelines and details on how to apply. Accessible formats are available, including BSL & captioned and audio introductions about the course, alongside large print formats.
If you have any questions, please contact our Training & Development Producer, Kristina through the email address shared below.
Deepen your understanding of the theatre industry through this traineeship scheme, where you'll be joining the team behind Donmar Warehouse's fundraising for 12 months
In this role, you will deepen your understanding of the theatre industry by joining the Individual Giving team where you will gain an understanding of Individual Giving within the fundraising landscape at large, within the Donmar, and gain experience running a thriving theatre membership scheme.
Within this front-facing post, you will support the smooth running of the Friends and Best Friends membership scheme, liaise with the Events team to deliver the events programme for Donmar supporters, identify new members and offer administrative support for the Patron scheme.
By the end of the 12 months, you will leave with a deeper understanding of fundraising, including the importance of relationship building and working closely with key stakeholders, as well as a strong grasp of how to confidently communicate the need for support.
We’d love to hear from you if you’re interested in performing, songwriting, music-making or you have another creative-skill, aged 18-25.
If you are keen to explore musical theatre, this is an exciting opportunity to work collaboratively with artists and facilitators, in response to National Theatre shows, Here We Are and London Road.
You’ll spend the week exploring and creating alongside musical directors and facilitators – the week is all about getting stuck into theatre-making and the process of this. You’ll watch both productions prior to the course week and use these as a starting point for some musical-making during the week. The week will culminate in an informal sharing of work alongside your peers on the last day of the programme.
This year, we’re particularly interested to hear from you if you have a passion for musical theatre or plays with songs.
These opportunities are free to take part in – no prior experience is necessary, just a sense of curiosity and creativity!
Applications to join the Youth Opera Programme for the 2025/2026 season are now open and will close on Friday 23 May.
The Royal Ballet and Opera's Youth Opera programmes provide children aged 8 to 13 with rigorous music and drama training, creative projects and the chance to perform in world leading opera productions with The Royal Opera.
RBO Youth Opera is divided into two strands:
RBO Young Voices (Ages 8-9)
RBO Young Voices is a singing programme for 8-9 year olds, developing participants' vocal control, musical literacy and performing skills. As well as performing at concerts and other events at the Royal Opera House, participants gain a grounding in the skills required to progress into our older ensemble, the RBO Youth Opera Company.
RBO Youth Opera Company (Ages 9-13)
RBO Youth Opera Company is our in-house chorus of 9 to 13 year olds. We offer participants all-round training in the performing arts, covering vocal technique, language coaching, acting and stage craft, musical literacy and creative processes for developing new work. The RBO YOC also has the opportunity to audition for the children’s chorus in one Royal Opera Company production per season.
Tangle’s Artistic Director Anna Coombs started WOVEN in 2023 as a safe space for African, Caribbean and Global Majority creatives living in Swindon and the surrounding areas to meet and connect as an artist-led community.
The WOVEN network offers opportunities for peer-led meetings, soft skills training and practical theatre workshops, social events, and sharing projects and working practices. Our hope is to build a community where members with diverse skillsets can connect, form working relationships and support each other.
WOVEN meetings take place in Swindon and Southampton.
WOVEN is free to join. To find out more, please email Associate Producer Stefan Kwame Boakye at the address below.
Beyond Face Youth Company is a fantastic opportunity for young people of the Global Majority aged 12-16 to work with professional theatre makers in a professional studio space to learn theatre and performance skills, perform, create their own theatre, writing and movement.
Over the years the youth company has performed their own productions such as Where’s Abi? By Titilola Dawudu and most recently their production Grow Up. We work closely with other youth theatre companies such as Doorstep Arts and Company Three on a variety of exchange projects.
We are delighted to announce that The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation Scholarship will support an emerging director from an under-represented or disadvantaged socio-economic background to undertake the two-year director training programme, the MFA Theatre Directing, at Birkbeck, from August 2025.
The Scholarship will cover the full course fees and provide £2,500 per annum towards the costs of study.
The closing date for applications to the programme and the scholarship is Friday 2 May 2025.
You may download more information about the Andrew Lloyd Webber Scholarship and the application form from the webpage linked below.
The first UK Project to promote equity for Black Dancers in Ballroom and Latin American Dance.
Black in the Ballroom aims to inspire young people of Black origin to take up Ballroom dancing as a hobby, as a competitive activity and/or as a career, by providing them an entry into the scene, an understanding of the basic and technical fundamentals of each dance style and an opportunity to perform and compete.
Please DM on Instagram @blackintheballroom to join their free dance classes in South East London.
The Black Artists Grant (BAG) offered by Creative Debuts as a no-strings attached financial support to help black artists. They can spend the grant on whatever they want – be that make new work, buy equipment or materials, travel, research, visit exhibitions or conferences, or to even just cover some life expenses.
This grant has been set up because black artists are systematically under-supported by the art world; by institutions, curators, the artist-led scene, major and minor funding bodies, the market, art schools, and by audiences too.
Creative Debuts recognises that a full institutional overhaul and dismantling of racist structures is required to transform the industry permanently, but they hope in a small way that this grant will help enable recipients to continue their artistic practice when the odds are so stacked against them.
The award has been named after the great Victorian Philanthropist, George Peabody. LSMT has established this Grant for those who are unable to afford to attend our training and who are currently underrepresented in the Industry.
The funding is designated for those of African or Caribbean heritage, South, East and South East Asian heritage, Middle-Eastern heritage or those who identify as bi-racial or multi-racial. There are several Grants of up to £5000 available.
