The Open Programme offers lectures, workshops and short, practical courses in traditional arts and crafts.

Our programmes are open to anyone over the age of 18 and suit all levels of ability and experience, from beginners to seasoned practitioners.

TheatreCraft takes an inside look at ‘Careers in Technical Theatre’ live at the Royal Opera House. Join Mark Dakin, Prema Mehta and Xavier Velastin in conversation to learn about working in lighting, sound and technical theatre. Hosted by Mousetrap Youth Forum.

TheatreCraft is the UK’s largest free careers event for anyone aged 16-30 seeking off-stage roles in theatre. From direction to stage management, producing to marketing and lighting to design, TheatreCraft offers attendees the chance to attend a wide variety of workshops, inspiring talks and Q&A sessions. The marketplace exhibits the best arts organisations and education providers from the industry.

This is an online training course. It is used within the Theatre industry to develop drawings for a range of different uses. If you want to be able to create entertainment-focused drawing, modelling and rendering this course is for you.

Vectorworks Spotlight is the entertainment industry-leading software that’s an all-in-one design, documentation and production solution. With an extensive suite of entertainment-focused drawing, modelling and rendering tools, Spotlight can produce detailed paperwork and presentations. Create an immersive experience with cutting-edge technology like virtual and augmented reality and rendered panoramas.

A special trial version of the software can be downloaded enabling students who don’t have the software to access the course.

The course is specifically tailored to the needs of users in a theatrical and live events environment, it consists of seven parts and is structured so you can create simple drawings after Part 1. The course will provide you with a foundation of skills, allowing you use the program straight away and build your knowledge. The course should take approximately 24 hours to complete, this will vary from person to person as it structured to allow you to you work at your own pace.

Learn to play the guitar from home and develop your skills from playing your first chords, strumming and rhythm to understanding guitar tablature and scales.

Learn to play the guitar from home as our experienced music tutors guide you through the basics, build your confidence and give you the tools to take your playing to the next level.

This Absolute Beginner Guitar package includes six tutorial videos to help you along your way. You can watch each tutorial as many times as you want and at your own pace. (On demand videos are available to view for 1 year from purchase).

If you’re ready to embark on your musical journey at a pace that suits you, then this is the perfect option.

Want to train at one of the UK’s leading drama schools? Feel like this might be financially out of reach? Open Door helps talented young people aged 18+ who do not have the financial support or resources to gain a place at one of the UK’s leading drama schools.

We are incredibly passionate about supporting aspiring actors who are serious about pursuing a career in acting and are looking to apply for a B.A (hons) Acting degree. Through our Acting Training Programme, as well as covering expenses, we work to develop skills and build confidence in our participants to apply to one of our current partner drama schools Guildhall School of Music and Drama, LAMDA, Royal Welsh College of Music, and The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

The Open Door Acting Access Programme provides participants with:

*please note, the acting training is a series of training days led by the Open Door team and visiting tutors. Participants are expected to attend 80% of these sessions.


At Open Door, our Behind the Scenes Access Programme supports participants aged 17-30 who are passionate about a career in Technical Theatre and Productions Arts and who want to apply to study at one of our partner schools. Technical Theatre and Productions Arts careers can include the likes of scenic art, theatre technology, set construction, costume construction, prop-making, set/costume design and more!

Our current partner schools are Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, LAMDA, Royal Welsh College of Music, and The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. We can give you the support you need to approach your interviews with confidence, knowing that you have benefited from the advice and mentoring from our selected industry professionals.

The Behind the Scenes Access programme provides participants with:

Learn to play the electric bass guitar from home with this introduction to picking and strumming, fretting, chords and Blues patterns and progressions

Learn to play the electric bass guitar from home with this introduction to picking and strumming, fretting, chords and Blues patterns and progressions.

This Absolute Beginner Electric Bass package includes six tutorial videos to help you along your way. You can watch each tutorial as many times as you want and at your own pace. (On demand videos are available to view for 1 year from purchase).

If you’re ready to embark on your musical journey at a pace that suits you, then this is the perfect option.

Learn to play the electric guitar from home and develop your playing skills from understanding tuning and tempo, rhythm and notes up to chord progressions and Blues scales

This Absolute Beginner Electric Guitar package includes six tutorial videos to help you along your way. You can watch each tutorial as many times as you want and at your own pace. (On demand videos are available to view for 1 year from purchase).

If you’re ready to embark on your musical journey at a pace that suits you, then this is the perfect option.

Learn to play the ukulele at home with this introduction to your instrument, chords and melodies, finger style and strumming technique

This Absolute Beginner Ukulele package includes six tutorial videos to help you along your way. You can watch each tutorial as many times as you want and at your own pace. (On demand videos are available to view for 1 year from purchase).

If you’re ready to embark on your musical journey at a pace that suits you, then this is the perfect option.

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