A NEW theatre school has been launched for children in Darlington.
Darlington Academy of Performing Arts (DAPA) is for seven to 16-year-olds.
Directors Paul and Joanne Mason aim to bring their 20 years of experience to young performers of the town.
They have been planning and training to begin their own youth theatre company for a long time and now that Mr Mason has graduated with a First Class BA Honours in Performing Arts, they decided it was the right time to start.
The academy will open in August with a movie musicals summer workshop followed by regular classes beginning in September.
The couple said that having recently visited secondary schools in Darlington for their daughter, they found many schools lacked the resources to provide a regular arts programme.
"We found that there were so many passionate people, both teachers and students who enjoyed performing arts, but due to budget cuts and curriculum changes, they often rely on teachers working outside of school hours, to give the students performance opportunities," they said.
The movie musical summer school will run from August 13 to 17 at Hummersknott Academy.
For more information see www.dapaonline.co.uk
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