The National Youth Music Theatre leads innovative new Birmingham partnership project alongside ambitious outdoor theatre finale of its 2025 Season
The National Youth Music Theatre (NYMT) proudly announces FairGround, a bold and inclusive arts festival for children and young people from all backgrounds across the whole of Birmingham.Hosted at City Academy, FairGround will offer free creative workshops in partnership with other leading arts organisations and schools in the city. The festival is committed to providing tailored opportunities for participants that reflect the diverse needs and experiences of its participants. Among those opportunities will be specialist drama and music workshops for newly arrived children who attend CORE Hello – a groundbreaking education programme which supports children from around the world to integrate positively into Birmingham schools and the community
FairGround features a series of four creative workshops, offering young people a fully funded chance to gain hands-on experience in a professional theatre environment. NYMT has brought together key partners who share a common commitment to broadening opportunities for young people to access all aspects of the arts on their terms. Birmingham Hippodrome will be delivering workshops inspired by their SEN Youth Theatre programme and BOA Trust will be leading workshops in technical theatre, with the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire guiding the music workshops, building on their existing outreach work at SoundLab.This collaborative endeavour will be set against the backdrop of an equally ambitious outdoor production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel, produced by NYMT and performed by some of the country’s brightest music theatre talent at Birmingham City Academy
NYMT is focused on delivering authentic and accessible opportunities that give young people high quality, tailored opportunities in music theatre. By working collaboratively with young people and regional partners, the festival celebrates inclusivity in high-quality arts training, performance and participation. Rooted in youth-led creative engagement, FairGround places young voices at the heart of NYMT’s commitment to creating new pathways for emerging talent to connect, grow, and thrive.
Underpinning FairGround is a strong commitment to meaningful partnership and long-term impact. Through creative collaborations with organisations such as CORE Education Trust, Birmingham Hippodrome, the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and BOA Trust, NYMT is helping to lead national conversations on how creative partnerships can be maximised to benefit young people. With essential funding from The Garek Trust and local support from its Birmingham partners, the project is made possible through shared investment in its vision. This series of work champions forward-thinking, action-led leadership in the arts—leadership that values shared purpose, community-rooted delivery, and a desire to challenge and disrupt outdated models. FairGround begins as a local initiative with national ambition, setting a standard for how the arts can work for everyone—not just the few.
Adrian Packer CBE, CEO of NYMT, comments, Launching our first FairGround in Birmingham, one of the youngest and most diverse cities in Europe, NYMT and its partners are excited at the potential of offering a creative, dynamic and safe space for young people from all backgrounds. This new innovative and ambitious space will exemplify the value of the arts as a facilitator of social good and cultural inclusion.
Rebecca Bakewell, Headteacher of City Academy, FairGround is exactly the kind of project we love to champion at City Academy. It brings together everything CORE stands for – creativity, opportunity and inclusion. We’re especially proud that our COREHello students will have the chance to take part in something so exciting and unique. Everyone deserves access to the arts,and FairGround reflects our commitment to making creativity central to how we learn, connect and grow as a community
Chris Cuming, NYMT Artistic Director, comments, Collaboration is a fundamental part of how our sector works, and FairGround will demonstrate four local organisations collaborating with NYMT to inspire the young people of Birmingham to explore careers in the Arts. Our festival will highlight the creative possibilities of pursuing every avenue of theatre production, from their first insight at these new co-delivered workshops through to a commitment to further training. I’m so proud to be partnering with these organisations to give these active workshops to the Birmingham community.
Garek Trust comments, At The Garek Trust we look to support organisations who reflect our values and ethos; consequently we are delighted to support NYMT and more specifically the FairGround festival. We strive to increase exposure to the performing arts to as many young people as possible and FairGround is the perfect platform for this.
The inaugural FairGround festival forms part of NYMT’s 2025 Summer season, which also features three new productions at Birmingham Hippodrome. From the vibrant energy of Fame: The Musical, the highly anticipated UK premiere of Tuck Everlasting, to the fantastical world of Lightning Boy (a brand-new musical), this season shines a spotlight on the incredible talent of the NYMT company. The season will culminate with Carousel, a site-specific performance uniquely staged on a working carousel, underscoring the organisation’s visionary approach and its commitment to reimagining music theatre for new generations. Alongside the Birmingham Summer Season and FairGround, NYMT will also be running PLATFORM and CRESCENDO
As part of the NYMT summer season, talented young people from across the UK — ranging in age from 10 to 23 — will come together to showcase their skills in a series of groundbreaking performances, with a clear focus on elevating the standard and visibility of music theatre across the industry. NYMT is also proud to announce a record-breaking 1,200 auditionees recently took part in its audition workshops, reflecting the growing passion and ambition among young people keen to be part of the vibrant world of music theatre. With its thriving creative scene and strong network of cultural partners, Birmingham provides the perfect base for this ambitious and inspiring work.
The NYMT has almost five decades of providing top-quality professional development for young theatre makers, continuing continues to offer masterclasses, skills workshops, and residential courses to support the next generation of performers, creatives, and technicians. The organisation is committed to making these opportunities accessible to all, with bursaries totalling nearly£50,000 this year alone to support under-resourced families