The dust seems to scarcely be settling from Showcase and we're in final preparations to start back with the class of 2012/13. Anyone who thinks we get the summer off is wrong :)
We've been lucky enough to have to lay on extra auditions this year to see everyone, and it looks like a record year for the college with at least 16 students studying with us. We can't wait to start working with all of them!
We've also had a very inspiring meeting with our Board of Trustees who oversee everything that college does. They're a fantastic bunch of people - I should introduce you...
David Ashley (Head of 1st Year and Deputy Head of Music, Arts Ed)
Elizabeth Flintoff (Director of Outreach, Watermill Theatre)
Nick Flintoff (Creative Technical Associate, National Theatre Studio)
Roger Missing (Owner, Missing Link DVD)
Anne Munn (Chief Executive, The Mobility Trust)
Between the Board, Helen and myself, there are some really exciting plans in place for the future of the college, including some great fundraising events which I will be blogging/tweeting about soon, so keep up to date and come and visit us at any of the events whenever you can!
Let's see how many futures we can change this time around...
www.rdtc.org.uk
Showing posts with label Fundraising. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fundraising. Show all posts
Tuesday, 31 July 2012
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Fundraising Marathon...
Wow, first blog of the year, and it's almost February!
Since I last posted, I am pleased to say that I have officially started training for Reading Half Marathon on Sunday, April 1st 2012 to raise funds for our Student Hardship Fund. The fund is a major part of why we became a charity last year which, in a nutshell, is to ensure that we can take students based on their talent and not on their bank balance.
We have been very lucky in the past to have been able to help some really fantastic young people achieve their potential and go on to great things in the Performing Arts, and running the miles for my training at the moment is oddly reminiscent of being back on stage in my dancing days - little did I realise over a decade ago when I was kicking my heels up in Spirit of The Dance, that I would be using the fact that I'd survived that tour to motivate myself running around the streets of Berkshire! Funny how life goes around isn't it?
I'm not alone in my running either - I am being joined by a relay team of college teachers: Helen Read, Seamus Allen, Eva Blanco and Michelle Legg all of whom are running a quarter of the course each to assist in the fundraising mission. What a fantastic bunch of people we get to work with! Talented, dedicated, bonkers.
You can sponsor us via facebook on the Read Dance & Theatre College wall or by emailing in to the college address admin@rdtc.org.uk, and by doing so you know that the money we raise is going directly to help train talented young people who really need your help. Every little helps as they say, so go ahead and pledge a few pounds now!
Many thanks,
Jamie
www.rdtc.org.uk
Foundation Course in Musical Theatre
Foundation Course in Acting
Since I last posted, I am pleased to say that I have officially started training for Reading Half Marathon on Sunday, April 1st 2012 to raise funds for our Student Hardship Fund. The fund is a major part of why we became a charity last year which, in a nutshell, is to ensure that we can take students based on their talent and not on their bank balance.
We have been very lucky in the past to have been able to help some really fantastic young people achieve their potential and go on to great things in the Performing Arts, and running the miles for my training at the moment is oddly reminiscent of being back on stage in my dancing days - little did I realise over a decade ago when I was kicking my heels up in Spirit of The Dance, that I would be using the fact that I'd survived that tour to motivate myself running around the streets of Berkshire! Funny how life goes around isn't it?
 |
| 2011 Graduates Joshua Pinder, Tommy Fox and Talitha Rye |
I'm not alone in my running either - I am being joined by a relay team of college teachers: Helen Read, Seamus Allen, Eva Blanco and Michelle Legg all of whom are running a quarter of the course each to assist in the fundraising mission. What a fantastic bunch of people we get to work with! Talented, dedicated, bonkers.
Many thanks,
Jamie
www.rdtc.org.uk
Foundation Course in Musical Theatre
Foundation Course in Acting
Monday, 21 November 2011
Friends, foundations and fundraising
What an amazing few weeks this has been in the life of Read College. Our first official fundraising event has raised an astonishing £1365.00 towards the 2012 Student Bursary fund thanks to some wonderful friends and supporters, and we have even had a cheque arrive through the letterbox from a movie star.
Recently, we've been contacting people with whom we have worked over the years to tell them about the work of Read College and the charity that we have established, and - on an off chance - I got a bit confident and emailed Judi Dench's agent (I was lucky enough to work with her eons ago as a child!). The agency were good and thorough enough to forward the message to her PA, and her PA was equally efficient and passed the email along to Judi Dench herself. It was a shock and a delight to receive a return email apologising that Dame Judi was unable to answer the email personally, due to being on set filming but that she would like to become a supporter of Read College and donate some money to fund our audition preparation master-classes for the season.
Meanwhile, we were also planning our first fundraising event for the college - An Evening of Cabaret with Jamie Read & Stars of The West End. In other words, I managed to convince some wonderful friends with whom I worked on various shows as an actor, to give up their time for free and sing to help raise funds and awareness. And that is exactly what they did. Juliette Caton (Martin Guerre), Shaun Dalton (Les Mis), Helen Power (Chess) and Ellie Verkerk as MD (Jersey Boys), all gave up their precious day off to come out to the wilds of West Berkshire and help us fly the flag.
The event was an incredible success, bringing together our students past and present, their families, our families, friends, colleagues and strangers, and showing them what we do and why we do it. People were incredibly generous with their time and money, and for both we are very grateful indeed.
So, in a time of austerity measures and funding cuts I am pleased to report that people's generosity of spirit seems to be as strong as ever. Thank goodness for great friends!
www.rdtc.org.uk
Recently, we've been contacting people with whom we have worked over the years to tell them about the work of Read College and the charity that we have established, and - on an off chance - I got a bit confident and emailed Judi Dench's agent (I was lucky enough to work with her eons ago as a child!). The agency were good and thorough enough to forward the message to her PA, and her PA was equally efficient and passed the email along to Judi Dench herself. It was a shock and a delight to receive a return email apologising that Dame Judi was unable to answer the email personally, due to being on set filming but that she would like to become a supporter of Read College and donate some money to fund our audition preparation master-classes for the season.
The event was an incredible success, bringing together our students past and present, their families, our families, friends, colleagues and strangers, and showing them what we do and why we do it. People were incredibly generous with their time and money, and for both we are very grateful indeed.
So, in a time of austerity measures and funding cuts I am pleased to report that people's generosity of spirit seems to be as strong as ever. Thank goodness for great friends!
www.rdtc.org.uk
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