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The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Performing Arts Fund has awarded more than £190,000 to non-profit youth theatre groups across the UK through its Young People's Musical Theatre scheme.

Partners of the scheme include the Voluntary Arts Network, the Media Trust and the National Operatic and Dramatic Association (NODA) .

A total of 52 groups have been given a grant to help them realise more ambitious projects, or to produce a musical theatre show for the very first time. In order to achieve these goals, the funding will be used to provide training and development opportunities for members, to run workshops, or to hire a professional director or choreographer, for example.

Miriam O'Keeffe, project manager of the Performing Arts Fund, said: "We are delighted to be supporting such a diverse and creative range of musical theatre projects. We hope that these grants will offer young people across the UK a range of new opportunities and will allow theatre groups to expand their range of work."

Responses from winners

"[We] are thrilled to be receiving this grant from the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Performing Arts Fund. It is enabling parents and children from the Bournville Estate in Weston Super Mare to work with professional theatre makers over several months to put on a festive show to remember – what a way to dispel those January blues!" – Fiona Matthews, Theatre Orchard, Bristol

"I can't tell you how much this award means to me and the volunteers, staff and young people at Viva. It is so rare to find people who see the value of Musical theatre and are willing to fund musical theatre projects. We feel very privileged to have been chosen." – Daniel Schumann, Viva Arts and Community Group, Cambridgeshire

"We are very grateful to the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Performing Arts fund for the grant, and are really excited by the opportunities it will give our members. It will really enable us to spread our wings over the next year, and will have a lasting effect on all our activities." – Robbie Swale, Upstage Centre Youth Theatre, York

Notes to Editors

Details of all the grants awarded are available in a PDF file on the right-hand side of this page.

The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Performing Arts Fund is a registered charity, number 1101276.

The charity (formerly Fame Academy Bursary Trust) was set up in 2003 within the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳. The fund receives revenue from the voting lines of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One entertainment programmes that seek to find new performing talent (including Fame Academy, How Do you Solve A Problem Like Maria? and Over The Rainbow).

To date the fund has allocated more than £3 million to talented performing arts individuals and community groups, as well as offering mentoring and advice to help them achieve their goals.

The Fund's mission is to seek out and support aspiring performing arts individuals and community groups who, for reasons of lack of existing support, personal background or circumstance, would not have been able to achieve their most ambitious goals or greatest potential without the Fund's support or intervention.

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