Weekend Arts College was born in 1978 when a group of young artists came up against barriers around training in the professional performing arts.  At that time, professional training in the arts was centred around a select group of conservatoires and drama schools.  To gain access, students needed to have studied classical disciplines – so, for dance, students needed to have a background in ballet, and to study voice, things were difficult if you had a strong regional accent.

 

 

 

 

 For many talented young people, often those from disadvantaged backgrounds, this meant there was a limit to where they could train and how far they could go.  So, two of their school teachers, Celia Greenwood and Teresa Noble, persuaded Ed Berman of Inter-Action, (the pioneering arts charity) in Kentish Town, to fundraise for a new performing arts school; and it started there with three classes on a Sunday afternoon in Ballet, Jazz Dance and Drama.

 

 

 

 

 And so WAC began, to enable students to study the disciplines and give them the skills that would allow them to compete for places at the finest performing arts institutions in the UK.

 

 

 

 

Re-branded in January 2013 Wac Arts is still even after 35 years, providing exciting and dynamic classes which empower young people to change their world! But with the current severe economic circumstances that are threatening the charity’s future some programmes are suffering. The Weekend Wac Arts programme is facing an early closure with classes only running to Christmas and not into 2014 as planned! This is devastating not only for team at Wac Arts but most importantly for the students. Wac Arts makes it possible for them to train and develop in specialities that they may never have discovered if Weekend Wac did not exist.

 

 

 

Celia Greenwood CEO “When Teresa Noble and I started working as volunteers in 1978 organising 3 classes on a Sunday afternoon, I never dreamt that I would still be involved in thirty years time; or that 3 classes would grow into 300 classes and that we would be open seven days a week for 50 weeks a year! However the aim of WAC has not changed over the years. We believe that every child and young person has an entitlement to high quality arts experiences both as participant and as audience. We believe that every child is an artist and it is our job to find the talent and let it blossom. We believe that the arts develop transferable skills that will enable everyone to achieve more in all aspects of their lives”

 

 

 

 

 Please help us to keep the Weekend Wac Arts programmes running after Christmas by donating generously. Thank you for your support from all the staff and students at Wac Arts!