Curtain goes up at Upper Brown Street

11/02/2011

Leicester College’s new live music and Performing Arts venue, Upper Brown Street will be officially launched on 15 February 2011.

Performances by the Addict Dance Company and by Leicester College musical theatre learners will light up the stage in a show business celebration of this much-loved venue.  Maggie Galliers, Principal of Leicester College will be getting the show started with an opening address, followed by Pauline Tambling, Managing Director of the National Skills Academy for Creative and Cultural who will deliver a key-note speech.

Formerly known as the Phoenix Arts Centre and now re-named Upper Brown Street, this well-known Leicester landmark has been given a new lease of life and is open to the public.

The 250-seater venue will play host to a variety of acts in the forthcoming months, including a variety show by Leicester College performers, performances by well-known folk legends, Richard Digance and Vin Garbutt and a production of Hairspray The Musical.

Leicester College provides an inspiring range of performing arts courses for people around Leicester and Leicestershire.  Learners regularly give stage performances in the city and across the country as well as entering competitions at a local and national level.  Leicester College Performing Arts learners who have had particular success include the celebrity television fashion consultant Gok Wan, members of the Addict Dance Company, who won the cup for overall UK Dance Champions 2010 at the UK Dance Experience competition and Introductory Certificate in Performing Arts learner, Luke Hollingsworth who reached the semi-finals of the BBC3 Dance Like Michael Jackson competition in November 2009.

Maggie said: “The Upper Brown Street opening event on 15 February will celebrate the culmination of all the hard work invested in the facility by Leicester College and its partners to provide a fabulous venue for the city.  It has great new facilities for our learners and for people in Leicester, and I hope performances here will be enjoyed for years to come.”

Upper Brown Street’s launch will take place between 6pm and 8pm in Newarke Street, Leicester, LE1 5TE.