Fundraiser success will help people take Centre Stage
30 March 2026
Hampshire’s first full day performing arts course for people with learning disabilities is set to launch this year after supporters helped a fundraiser exceed its target.
Blue Apple Theatre and Minstead Trust have successfully completed their Big Give Arts for Impact campaign, raising £8,892.94 including Gift Aid and surpassing their original target within two days of launch.
The campaign was supported by Arts Council England, whose match funding through the Big Give doubled every eligible donation during the one-week appeal.
With an additional pledged £6,000 from a private donor, a total of £14,892.94 will now support the launch of Centre Stage, a new daytime performing arts course for adults with a learning disability and/or autism.
Centre Stage will run as a 12‑week pilot later this year and will be the first full‑day performing arts foundation course of its kind in Hampshire. The programme will offer structured workshops in acting, movement and voice, designed for people who may be completely new to creative training and who often face barriers accessing traditional evening or community classes.
Centre Stage focuses not on fast-tracking participants onto mainstage productions, but on developing skills that extend far beyond the rehearsal room: building confidence, enhancing communication, supporting emotional regulation, working collaboratively, and developing independence and creative resilience.
Independent research from the University of Winchester (2023) has shown that Blue Apple’s performing arts programmes create profound positive changes in wellbeing, social connection and personal development. Centre Stage brings this evidence-based approach to a new group of people who have historically had limited access to similar opportunities.
Richard Conlon, Artistic Director at Blue Apple Theatre, said: ‘This is a brilliant achievement and brings us significantly closer to offering people a creative home and the chance to grow in ways they may never have been able to before. We are enormously grateful to everyone who donated or helped spread the word.’
Planning is now underway to finalise the pilot location, secure a suitable venue, recruit participants and appoint an experienced facilitator. An evaluation study will run alongside the pilot to help shape its future development.
The evaluation is central to the pilot’s design, ensuring the programme can grow sustainably and reflect what participants say they need.
If the pilot proves successful, the long-term ambition is to establish Centre Stage as a permanent part of Blue Apple’s daytime offer and explore further sites across the region.