Help Daisy Pursue her Drama School Dreams!
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Since childhood, performing on the West End has always been my biggest dream. Sitting in the theatre with my mum, I yearned to be up on the stage, performing and entertaining people like me who believe in the importance of the arts. I value theatre for the emotions it conveys, the perspectives it showcases.
I have been extremely lucky that my family have done nothing but support my ambitions, with me being a member of the Theatre Royal Bath Theatre School since I was 4 years old and starting singing lessons at 13. My grandmother Elizabeth was always my biggest supporter, helping me afford this training and allowing me to be in the position I am today.
Theatre is a notoriously cut-throat industry, and I am acutely aware of this. For a long time, I considered keeping it as a hobby, before realising I could not be truly satisfied in life without giving the performing arts a real shot. As a result, I pushed myself to be the best performer I could be, fully committing myself by earning a Drama Scholarship at my Sixth Form and taking part in over 10 hours per week of extra-curricular vocational training in addition to my A-levels. I also began working from the age of 16 at the Theatre Royal as an usher, broadening my experience of the theatre world and saving the majority of my pay in the hopes of using it to invest in my career in the future.
This year, my hard work paid off and I was lucky enough to be offered a place on the year-long CertHE course at once of the top 3 drama schools for Musical Theatre in the UK, Mountview. With only 16 students in each class, I will receive on average 40 hours of teaching time every week. Though highly intense, I have no doubt this course will skyrocket my performance ability, allowing me to complete a bachelors' degree in Musical Theatre from 2025.
Unfortunately, performing arts remains a highly elitist vocation and receiving financial aid is very difficult, despite an average of 10% acceptance rate for CertHE courses and 3-5% for BA courses. This year, my course costs £9275, however due to the nature of conservatoire training differing from traditional university, I am only able to take out a student finance loan of £6000. Complete with a scholarship of £600, I am required still to find over £2500 to pay my course fees. In addition, maintenance loans have not risen in line with inflation, and therefore even by going approximately £15,000 in student loan debt just this year, I will only have about £100 per week to live off of after rent, which will need to cover specialist equipment, food, travel and other costs of living. People who know me well can attest to the fact that I hate asking for help from others, but I have decided to in order to properly allow myself to pursue the dreams I have and have already worked so hard for. As a result, I am asking for any and all contributions towards my education. I have already received a lot of support from many of you, and there is no obligation at all to donate, but any and all support will be greatly appreciated by me, and I will do my best to repay the favour to you by putting my absolute all into my training.
Thank you for reading!
Daisy
Helpful links:
https://www.backstage.com/uk/magazine/article/the-best-musical-theatre-dance-schools-in-the-uk-68928/
Organizer
Daisy Jackson
Organizer
England