by The decline of the drama as a school subject has seriously affected the live maintenance business. While it is now more difficult to imagine an emerging star in a stage career, the skills and craft departments of the theater are.
The problem for Indhu Rubasingham has a top priority two weeks after her top -class work as the artistic director of the National Theater. Now you and the managing director of the NT, Kate Varah, are terminated one step to increase the range of specialists across the country, from costume designers and manufacturers to creators and computer technicians.
“This is a rapidly growing sector, but the extent of this problem is in danger. A nationwide training display is the answer” observer. “The subjects for performing arts recorded a decline in the number of students by 68%, while the figures for those who took GCSE’s income have decreased by 47% and A-levels by 29%.
“The result is that young people do not even see the theater as a sustainable industry, regardless of the type of backstage work that they might otherwise have got involved.”
The NT is to finance the expansion of its National Theater Skills Center for over three years, with the help of a new and “important” company partnership with the Bank of America.
The center, based in the Theater of the London Southbank, currently offers placements, training courses, apprenticeships and work in all departments of the NT, from costumes to landscape to computer technology. The new money of the Bank of America enables NT craftsmen to take the time to teach trainees.
One of the already beneficial Sarah Ray-Dobson, an apprentice in the props department. “This is the first time that I worked in a theater,” she said. “Requisite making is a career that I never considered for myself, but I really enjoy it. I have never seen an art -based apprenticeship training, so I never thought that this was even an available route.
“All skills that I have learned here can be applicable to other areas. I have learned carpentry events, furniture production and painting, including wooden grains and glazing, which would definitely be helpful in my future projects.”
Varah said: “We have a job department of around 30% in the cultural sector and this is due to the lack of qualified workers. Things on the horizon can change the landscape and help at the edges, but it will not really be a dent, and there are many people who want to do it. ‘
Studies by Ravensbourne University London show that 75% of 18 to 25 year olds want to work in the creative industry, she said. “But you don’t see how you have access to it or what the first steps are. This is really our job and our brand as a national theater. It is part of our job to make it clear to you.”
Chief Executive Stephanie Sirr said in Nottingham Playhouse that they would have to “apply two, three or even four times”.
“The deficiency surprised us slightly. It is worrying,” said Sir, who is also a common president of the British theater, the membership organization for theater producers, managers, owners and operators. The problem in Nottingham and elsewhere, as suggested, was tightened by the lack of old -fashioned apprenticeships.
“These always attracted clever, practical people who sometimes went to the theater. It is very Unlike a decade ago. People don’t get through the normal pipelines because children do not make a drama in school and therefore do not make props or lighting or painting. “
The lack of new blood, added SRR that experienced workers were used: “If we have no trainees, older workers can never retire. And some of these jobs are quite physical. We also lose some trained young people to the live music industry or against film and television, which pays better.”
Varah believes that only the existence of the center, which started last autumn, will be built outside of London as a beacon for the entire industry. She believes that the NT can refer more trainees in the right direction and will benefit 15,000 people in the next three years.
Varah said: “The focus is on the relationship between the creative industry and the educational sector. It is about ensuring that there are sufficiently trained people to go forward. We need teachers who can go to the expressive arts at the GCSE level, and start building trust for people so that people can pursue a career in this area.
Lisa Nandy, the cultural secretary, welcomed the program. It would “open up opportunities and drive the growth ahead,” she said, adding: “We would like to reduce obstacles to entering careers in our world’s leading creative industry by ensuring that young people have access and training throughout the country.
In its industrial strategy, the government identified the government as one of eight “growth sectors”, although its own data show that 60% of theater has reported a lack of deterioration since 2019.
