Full time & Apprenticeships
Work begins on new performance studio space at Wildman Street
27 June 2010
Work begins this week on a brand new performance space at Wildman Street Studios: new build that has come about as a result of a £2.3 million pound investment in Kendal College's arts and media campus at the North end of the town, supported by a £1.3 million investment by the North West Development Agency.
The space is intended to provide professional facilities for the development of skills in drama, dance and technical theatre. This includes the college's brand new Foundation Degree in Drama, which starts this September.
The space will be equipped with a fully-sprung dance floor, acoustic treatments and a comprehensive range of professional lighting and sound equipment, accessed by catwalks and motorised systems.
It will form a fantastic new performance space and will enable the brand new degree programme to provide opportunities to develop a professional standard of theatre-based work, with opportunities to collaborate with students on existing degree level programmes, collaboration with local secondary schools, and opportunities for primary schools to attend shows in a space that is big enough to accommodate large groups
The space will also allow the college to host performances from touring theatres from other educational institutions and professional companies in collaboration with the Brewery Arts Centre.
The college has also recently entered into a new initiative, which will see the Grade 1 Listed Castle Dairies building on Wildman Street opened up as a gallery and cafe for use by members of the public, exhibiting artworks produced by the college's own students, as well as budding artists from the area's primary and secondary schools and collections from Kendal Museum and other travelling exhibitions.
Head of Drama at Kendal College, Hilary Pezet said: “I set up the Old Laundry Theatre with the current head of the Brewery arts Richard Foster in 1992 so the new development at the college represents a chance for Richard and myself to work together again. We plan to open the fantastic new venue to a run of the well-known farce Noises Off, a 1982 play by English playwright Michael Frayn.
“The new build will represent an intimate performance space, with a number of different configurations of up to 180 seats, including the ability to be configured in the round.”
Work at the Wildman Street Studios will seek to complement the work that goes on at the Brewery, with Kendal College students running all technical aspects.
The new Foundation Degree in Drama starts this September and will allow students to develop professional theatre skills including marketing, project and events management, and lots of advice and guidance on setting up and running your own small scale theatre enterprise with a particular focus on the Cumbrian and North Lancashire performance scene.
There are still a number of places left on this exciting new course. For more information see www.kendal.ac.uk/degree call 01539 814739, or come along on the night.
