Government confirms £15m National Skills Academy

Published Wednesday 7 May 2008 at 18:10 by Lalayn Baluch

Plans to build a £15 million National Skills Academy for the live performing arts have been given final approval by the government.

The initiative is led by training body Creative & Cultural Skills and is designed to boost backstage and technical staff. It is supported by 120 employers, including the National Theatre, Live National and the Royal Opera House.

The NSA will be housed in a state of the art building, which has been proposed for Thurrock, south Essex.

Tony Hall, chief executive of the Royal Opera House, chair of CC Skills and co-chair of the NSA steering group, welcomed the news.

Hall commented: “This is brilliant news for all those people who have campaigned to make the National Skills Academy for music and the performing arts a reality.

“By the Olympics, we would have had a major shortage of skilled backstage workers. But with today’s announcement, we can tackle that problem right away and start giving opportunities to lots of people.”

Last year, research by CC Skills revealed that theatre and live music employers face a “damaging shortage” of trained technicians, unless the industry can recruit 30,000 new technical staff over the next decade.

Feargal Sharkey, chief executive of British Music Rights and co-chair of the NSA steering group, added: “This is a longed-for announcement and will hopefully ensure our stages - from Glastonbury to Glyndebourne, from the Eden Project in Cornwall to the Sage Gateshead - are crewed and managed by the right people in years to come.”