The Queen’s Theatre Partnership with New City College goes from strength to strength.

Since May 2022, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch have been working in partnership with the Performing Arts team at New City College, Ardleigh Green to promote the arts and develop creative talent.

Senior colleagues from NCC are represented in FUSE: Havering, the Local Cultural Education Partnership (LCEP) for Havering which brings to together education and cultural partners to transform the lives of Havering’s young people, and better promote the value of culture in education. The partnership between the two organisations came about through connections formed in the LCEP.

The partnership aims to encourage collaboration and learning and give students the chance to improve their creative practice through workshops and performances at QTH. They’ve also seen first-hand how the Theatre operates and gained an insight into the diverse roles available within the performing arts industry.

Every year, we welcome new NCC Performing Arts students to the partnership with a selection of activities at QTH, including a backstage tour, meet the team and script-to-stage workshop.

Throughout the year, students get the opportunity to see a broad selection of QTH’s produced work and perform on the Main Stage and The Other Stage. In the 2022 – 2023 academic year, this included a Main Stage Takeover for Performing Art’s production of The Addams Family with an afternoon performances for local Secondary Schools and a sold out evening performance to the general public; Re-wind evening of songs from the 90’s and 00’s by Music Students; and Music’s End of Year sharing on the Main Stage. Last year, selected Performing Arts students also joined the intergenerational Community Chorus in Vickie Donoghue’s The Flood, to add life on stage to the parties alongside the play’s professional cast.

There are already plans in the works for this year’s Partnership, which is expanding to include NCC Havering Sixth Form College and more opportunities to see theatre in non-traditional theatre spaces, through QTH’s new school and communities touring model.

The partnership is an example of QTH’s investment in the local community and commitment to inspiring more young people to discover and love the arts.

“The highly valued partnership has been extremely beneficial to our NCC students and we are very grateful that the Queen’s Theatre have been able to offer our students opportunities beyond the curriculum. Our NCC students have very much enjoyed watching a range of diverse productions at the Queen’s Theatre which has informed their understanding of different practitioners, styles and approaches to theatre. Additionally, close collaboration with the technical team (Stage/Lighting/Wardrobe/Set) has meant that our students have had the opportunity to engage with professionals from the industry which has inspired them to explore a range of roles for their future careers. Thank you Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, we can’t wait to see our partnership flourish even further!”

Louiza Williamson, Senior Curriculum Manager for Performing Arts & Music