Birmingham Hippodrome’s spectacular gala evening at Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty has raised £5,000 to support aspiring young performers. 

The sold-out event on Thursday 9 February was sponsored by Gowling WLG and attended by 100 guests, including Hippodrome patrons, event supporters, corporate partners and funders.

Hosted by Jon Glichrist, Artistic Director and CEO at Birmingham Hippodrome, the evening raised money to support the Hippodrome’s youth dance talent programme, which includes leading dance projects at Hippodrome Education Network (HEN) schools and  giving young dancers opportunities to create a Curtain Raiser performance based on a visiting production. The piece is then performed on the Hippodrome’s main stage before the start of the show.

Gemma Sherratt, Course Leader and Hippodrome Education Network (HEN) lead at Halesowen College and Tianna, a HEN member who has taken part in New Adventure’s Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty dance project, spoke at the gala to highlight the impact of the youth dance talent programme. Tianna also shared her transformative experience with the project, which was made possible through the programme.

Judith Greenburgh, Head of Fundraising and Development at Birmingham Hippodrome said: “From inspiring talks by our HEN guests to fantastic prizes and charitable donations, our gala evening at Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty was a huge success.

“The donations received will give the next generation of performers across the West Midlands unforgettable dance opportunities. We would like to thank everyone who attended or contributed; your generosity will help us deliver this important work to more young people.”

Michael Luckman, Partner at Gowling WLG said: “We are delighted to be able to support Birmingham Hippodrome in creating professional dance tuition and high-quality performance opportunities for local young people, including alongside Sir Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures production of Sleeping Beauty, continuing our long and rewarding partnership with the theatre.”

Tickets are on sale for the Hippodrome’s next spectacular gala evening at The Lion King on Thursday 7 September and can be booked here.

For more details email fundraising@birminghamhippodrome.com or call 0121 689 3068.