The pupils of Belfast School of Performing Arts (BSPA) raised a fantastic £1500 for local charity Autism NI over the course of 2019.
The young students of Northern Ireland’s top theatre school put on a series of seven amazing musicals in Spring 2019 at which they ran charity raffles, along with other fundraising efforts throughout the year.
BSPA Ballymena followed the yellow brick road with ‘The Wizard of Oz’, BSPA Bangor performed ‘Legally Blonde’, BSPA Belfast South went quackers with ‘Honk Jr’, BSPA Belfast AM ventured ‘Into The Woods Jr’, BSPA Belfast PM wowed the audience with the N Ireland Premiere of ‘Shrek Jr’, and BSPA Holywood Road fell down the rabbit hole and performed ‘Alice in Wonderland Jr’ and finally BSPA Lisburn went back in time with ‘Guys and Dolls Jr’.
BSPA Director, Tina McVeigh, said: “At the BSPA a high level of theatre tuition and guidance from our teachers helps our pupils to build their confidence and social skills, helping them grow into confident young performers. We have several children and families throughout our schools who are affected by autism and we have seen the benefits of how the performing arts helps autistic children and their siblings. Because of this we felt that Autism NI would be the perfect charity for BSPA to support in 2019, and I’m thrilled that we raised £1500 through fundraising initiatives involving all the pupils.”
Autism NI Corporate Fundraising Manager Lauren Cunningham said, “Autism NI are delighted to receive a wonderful donation from the Belfast School of Performing Arts. We are grateful for the support and I would like to extend our thanks to the pupils and teachers who took part in the performances throughout the year to raise vital funds for the charity and everyone who attended these performances. The donation will be used towards funding our Helpline service which receives up to 5,000 calls a year from parents, carers, professionals and autistic individuals.”
These talented young people worked incredibly hard to put on fantastic musical theatre performances for parents, friends and the public and It is great that they were also able to help support an important local charity.
Along with the addition this year of an eight school in Lisburn there are more exciting productions to come for the busy theatre school in Spring 2020 followed by two exciting Summer Youth Productions, ‘Our House’ and ‘The Little Mermaid Jr’ directed by BSPA Artistic Director Peter Corry.