Proposal for new Welsh ballet school still under consideration

Published Friday 23 October 2009 at 11:42 by Michael Quinn

Discussions about a £3 million proposal to transform a disused Welsh college campus into a ballet school and theatre are set to continue despite being twice rejected by the site’s owners, Coleg Gwent.

The Abergaveny-based college has invited the nearby Ty’r Morwydd Environmental Study Centre to further talks about its plans for the 80-room Hill Education and Conference Centre which was closed in August.

Local businessman and chair of the Ty’r Morwydd Board, Dr Olinga Ta’eed has welcomed the invitation but told The Stage that the “cut-off point” for his “better than fair bid” of 90% of the estimated £3.5 million value of the campus is Christmas.

Dr Ta’eed said that he wanted “to bring something like the Royal Ballet to Wales, where there are very few RAD-qualified teachers” and that the school and theatre would be “run as a social enterprise; in other words not getting any grant aid or funding of any other sort”.

He added that he was “of the mindset to transform the bid into a public-private partnership” if there was sufficient support from the local community.