The Stage

Circus, opera and big business recognised at A&B Awards

Published Friday 13 November 2009 at 11:22 by Michael Quinn

A fledgling actors’ training agency, theatre, circus, opera and orchestra companies have been recognised in this year’s Arts & Business Awards.

A performer at the Circus Space Showcase in May Photo: Circus Space

Announced today, the annual awards launched in 1978, “show the astounding variety of imaginative partnerships possible between culture and commerce”. Prize winners included the partnership between Circus Space and UBS for the transformation of a derelict power station in Hoxton, east London into an internationally recognised circus training and production facility. Near neighbour, Hoxton Hall in Shoreditch, won the Board Member of the Year Award for Ferry Van Dijk, co-opted from sponsors Shell, for his support of the venue’s youth access programme.

Praised by judges as “revolutionary for both brands”, the Royal Opera House’s youth-oriented Ignite Festival, assisted by Deloitte LLP, won the Cultural Branding Award for a programme that included dance, concert and magic events as well as a ‘lie-down concert’.

The People Development Award went to the Belfast Actors Studio in its first year of operation for an in-house training programme developed for Translink Metro that “resulted in the highest customer satisfaction on record and increased passenger numbers”.

With the support of the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, the London Symphony Orchestra’s Musicians on Call programme, which has already taken players into 192 hospitals around the world, received the International Award.