The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, founded by the composer to support the arts, culture and heritage for the public benefit, has announced a new programme of place-based funding, specifically targeted to support arts projects in the city of Birmingham and the surrounding area.

Birmingham Rep is one of the arts organisations selected and the money will subsidise two new backstage apprenticeship roles, Theatre Technician Apprentice and Scenic Maker Apprentice, targeted at young people from diverse backgrounds traditionally under-represented in the theatre industry.

Over the coming years, this new programme will commit over £500,000 to the West Midlands area across 11 key projects. The programme works in close partnership with the recipient organisations to raise awareness, widen access and encourage participation in talent development initiatives for young people across the area.

This is a new venture for the Foundation which, since 2010, has donated over £25 million in grants, and nearly 400 performing arts scholarships to talented students in financial need. This includes the Music in Secondary Schools Trust (MiSST), established with funding from the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation.

In the academic year September 2025-2026, 14,885 children will receive free musical tuition and instruments as part of MiSST’s Andrew Lloyd Webber Programme. The Foundation also continues to fund Get Into Theatre, a platform seeking to break down barriers and broaden access to careers in theatre.

Simon Thurley, Chair, Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, said: “For decades, Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation has sought to give money in impactful ways, reaching into the heart communities up and down the country. As the public funding situation in cities like Birmingham becomes increasingly difficult, we felt compelled to support critically important, and now endangered, arts organisations and projects in the city.

Strong arts organisations bring unquantifiable benefit to the wider community and we hope this programme will see our grants make a larger collective impact on a very local level in Birmingham. However, we are offering just a small part of the solution to a much larger problem. We very much hope that others may see the impact of this programme and be inspired to join us in Birmingham and other great UK cities in the coming years.”

Rachael Thomas, CEO, Birmingham Rep: “We’re delighted that Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation has chosen to fund our apprenticeships programme, which will fund two apprentices in backstage roles over 2 years. With full production facilities on site here in Birmingham we’re hugely proud of the production and technical craft skills that are nurtured in this building.  We’re also committed to opening up careers in theatre to young people from a wider range of backgrounds. 

As the only producing theatre in one of the youngest and most diverse cities in the UK this is therefore a great opportunity to marry our aims of developing the production arts and building a more diverse workforce.  We look forward to discovering new talent in our city and region and the opportunities that will bring for both the apprentices and The Rep. Without Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation’s support, it would not be possible.”