Arts Ed Gets Millions from Lloyd Webber

Huge grant from composer will build new theatre and TV studios

Chiswick performing arts college Arts Educational has been given £3.5 million by multimillionaire Andrew Lloyd -Webber.

The grant for a new theatre and TV studios, is the biggest capital donation to the performing arts since he founded his charitable foundation twenty years ago. The Andrew Lloyd-Webber Foundation is run by his wife Madeleine.

His foundation is already funding 10 musical theatre scholarships a year for students to attend one of nine performing arts colleges in Britain including Arts Ed. "We don't want to be supporting schools where rich kids are the only ones who can afford to go," according to Lady Lloyd-Webber "We will teach them up to the quality of performing arts colleges you would find in New York or Los Angeles."

Arts Ed, in Chiswick, is more formally known as the Arts Educational Schools London and past pupils include Catherine Zeta Jones, Martin Clunes and Will Young.

Principal Jane Harrison said: "This award is a powerful endorsement of the quality of our training. It will enable us to invest in the fabric of our building and bring our facilities up to the same high standard as our teaching for both current and future students."

Lady Lloyd-Webber said her husband came from a working-class background and was "passionate about giving back" to society. "Andrew does understand that a little can go a long way," she said. "There's a real need. And as long as he can carry on earning a living, we can keep funding it. He'll end up giving everything away."

Visit www.artsed.co.uk for more information.

November 9, 2011