Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber is to donate more than £3.5 million to a performing arts school in London through his organisation.Arts Educational Schools in Chiswick, west London, will use the money from the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation to refurbish its main buildings in the hope that it will provide state-of-the-art facilities for the next generations of musicians, actors and performers to follow in the footsteps of alumni including Will Young, Julie Andrews, Catherine Zeta Jones and Jane Seymour.
Work will be carried out on the main theatre in the school, which will be made to similar standards of a West End stage, with a more flexible stage space, new control room and rehearsal studios. The school’s roof space will also be transformed into a costume storage facility.
Meanwhile, the School of Film and Television will be refurbished with new soundproof studios, editing rooms and communal spaces.
Providing disabled facilities will be the fourth major project making use of the funds, with new lifts and adjustments to the stage and auditorium to make the entire school fully accessible for disabled people interested in the performing arts.
“The new facilities will provide an ideal environment for the students to take advantage of the exemplary training the school is renowned for,” Lord Lloyd Webber said.
“I have been a supporter of Arts Educational Schools for many years and I am very excited that the Foundation can make a real difference to the students who will be future stars of stage and screen.”
Every year, the Foundation awards ten musical theatre scholarships to students who attend one of nine performing arts schools in the UK, covering their fees for up to three years.
It was recently announced that the Foundation will also fund one sixth form Music Scholarship at Eton College every year for the next ten years, supporting musically-talented students from families that need financial assistance.