Open Door is delighted to announce the recommencement of its partnership with some of the leading drama schools in the UK including Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. The organisation has unveiled a kitemark it has created with leading safeguarding organisation The Anne Craft Trust that all the schools it works with must sign up to, helping to ensure students at acting, technical theatre, production arts institutions are adequately supported. This kitemark is the first part of the Partner Agreements that Open Door and their partner schools will forge for the 2022/23 cohort, with further details to be announced soon.
In light of a number of complaints made against UK drama schools in recent years, Open Door ceased its partnerships with drama schools in 2020 until it was confident robust procedures were in place that would protect students. At the time, Open Door stated that it was unable to send its participants to drama schools until it had been assured that such issues had been resolved.
During this time, Open Door has established a partnership with The Anne Craft Trust, one of the UK’s leading organisations on safeguarding adults and young people at risk. Working with The Anne Craft Trust, Open Door has developed a Quality Mark that it asks partner drama schools to sign up to, with the Trust assessing each school’s policies and procedures and awarding them a kitemark if they meet its criteria. Open Door will only refer its participants to those schools who have been awarded the kitemark, and The Anne Craft Trust will maintain an ongoing dialogue with each school to feedback and support each institution where necessary. Additionally, the schools awarded a kitemark will join Open Door on several development days, facilitated by an external body, to provide feedback and further best practice, thus ensuring all procedures are as complete as possible to support and protect students.
Open Door Artistic Director, Founder & CEO David Mumeni said: “We’re excited to be working with these schools again for the first time since 2020. This kitemark will enable Open Door and their partner schools to spearhead a shared approach to the transparency and robustness of safeguarding policies and procedures at these leading institutions. We hope this will influence other areas of the sector in order to cement final and long-lasting change which has been required for some time.”
“We can already see Open Door alumni entering the professional industry and securing work on fantastic projects, and we want them to be able to access the world-leading education, and we applaud these drama schools for signing up to the kitemark and offering the assurance that is essential rather than optional.”
Open Door Managing Director Rich Neale said: “We thank The Anne Craft Trust for their support in establishing a kitemark for our partner drama schools to sign up to, and we’re delighted that with this in place, Open Door can launch its access to schools again for those aspiring to break into acting, technical theatre and production arts. We will be expanding to new parts of the country including the Midlands in its entirety and continuing our work in Sheffield and London. Our aim is to offer an opportunity to people wanting to work in theatre, television and film wherever they’re from in the UK, and to this end we have increased the age limit to 30 years.”
Open Door is a registered charity that helps talented young people who do not have the financial support or resources to gain a place at one of the UK’s leading drama schools. Working with people aged 18-30 (actors) and 17-30 (behind the scenes), Open Door bridges the gap for people who are serious about pursuing a career in acting, technical or production arts, but who may need help to do so. Its patrons include Emilia Clarke, Riz Ahmed, Woody Harrelson and David Morrissey.
Recent Open Door alumni success includes Jerome Lance securing the leading role in forthcoming prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds, Dionne Brown who landed the leading role in upcoming Apple TV+ series Criminal Record alongside Cush Jumbo and Peter Capaldi, as well as multiple participants landing roles at the National Theatre, Regents Park Open Air Theatre and at The Old Vic.
Other Open Door alumni includes:
● Sheyi Cole, who appeared in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series and Donald Glover’s Atlanta, and who will soon appear in Frank Cottrell Boyce’s The Beautiful Game alongside Bill Nighy and Micheal Ward
● Milly Zero, who was nominated for Best Newcomer in the Soap Awards 2020 for her role as Dotty Cotton in EastEnders
● Tobi King Bakare, who appeared in Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You and Stefan Golaszewski’s Marriage
● Sesley Hope who is currently shooting on Bridgerton
Applications for auditions open in late September. Further information is available at https://www.opendoor.org.uk/the-process
