David Tearle, one of our Arts1 Alumni, has told us about his experience at Arts1, he attended the part time school and then went on to complete the 6th Form in Musical Theatre.

“I remember the very first arts1 session, it was November 2006 and I knew I wanted to do Performing Arts. I began with Musical Theatre classes on a Wednesday night and I continued with this for 10 years. Later, I joined other classes including Acting, Street dance, Contempary and Body-Con before successfully auditioning for the sixth form course in musical theatre in 2016.

Musical Theatre was my favourite class by far, I loved learning different songs and routines from my favourite musicals and each week was always something new and exciting.

Having the opportunity to attend a mixture of classes really boosted my confidence, particularly in my weaker areas and helped my become a more well-rounded performer. I also grew to love the subjects which I was initially intimidated by (street dance secretly became the most entertaining part of the week.) despite struggling with co-ordinating my arms and legs when I first started.

Moving from part-time classes to the sixth form was a giant leap to say the least but came around just at the right time. I was just finishing school with a lot of options in front of me but studying level 3 BTEC in Musical Theatre at Arts1 was the best decision I could’ve made. The emphasis on practical classes backed up with coursework was perfect for my way of learning. Being on the course meant I was open to many opportunities to get involved in the industry including 3 major musical productions, choir competitions, visits to west end productions, 2 weeks of theatre-based work experience and even performing on BBC 1’s Pitch Battle series, all of which gave a unique set of skills we used in our future training. The biggest benefit of studying full time as oppose to part time is seeing the progression happen much quicker in a shorter space of time. Now that my time on the course is over, it’s extremely rewarding to look back to where I started and notice how far I’ve come with all the skills and knowledge I acquired throughout the years.

If I could describe Arts1 in 5 words it would be; Fast-paced, intense, rewarding, inspiring and family-oriented (I know that’s more than 5 but who’s counting!)

Arts1 equipped me with the skills, the grades I needed and the positive, ambitious attitude to peruse my personal goal to work in the media sector and secure a place at the University of Salford to study BA (hons) Television and Radio. I’m thoroughly excited to see what the future holds and where my mixture of experiences with all aspects of the industry could take me.”