Trinity Laban hosts MP visit as part of Arts Fellowship

Jonathan Evans MP has now completed four intensive visits to Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, as part of his Cultural and Creative Industries Fellowship programme with the Industry and Parliament Trust (IPT), an educative charity that works to promote a mutual understanding between Parliament and UK business.

Jonathan had a number of in-depth discussions across the four days with Professor Anthony Bowne, Principal of Trinity Laban, on the role of conservatoires in their national and international context and other critical issues for higher education institutions. He also met the Directors of Music and of Dance to understand the different characteristics of music and dance students, and the ways in which Trinity Laban supports them to become open minded, artistic and creative leaders in their chosen art forms.

After attending a management meeting at the Music Faculty in Greenwich, Jonathan met with a range of music students and teaching staff, including Trinity Laban's Head of Piano, Deniz Gelenbe, and student Maria Nemtsova, this year's Isabelle Bond Gold medal winner.

During his visits to the Dance Faculty at the Laban building in Deptford, Jonathan attended performances by second year BA dance students who performed works by Rudolph Laban, Twyla Tharp and Lea Anderson. He also went behind the scenes to find out more about how Trinity Laban supports the development of students into becoming world class performance artists, from choreography, rehearsals, costuming and scheduling, as well as the challenges of running a highly professional dance theatre.

Jonathan also spent time learning about Trinity Laban's wide ranging community participation programme to provide access and opportunities in dance in the local area, for people aged from two years to elderly; and met staff at Junior Trinity, which trains gifted and talented musicians as young as three years old.

Jonathan said: "I have been so impressed by the energy, enthusiasm and commitment which I have seen at Trinity Laban and all the work that is being done to nurture and develop the exceptional talent of their students. I have also welcomed meeting parents at Junior Trinity, who sacrifice so much to help give their children the opportunity to achieve such remarkable success."

Professor Anthony Bowne, Principal of Trinity Laban, said Jonathan's visits had been very rewarding: "Jonathan gave up much of his time to really get under our skin and understand why the Conservatoire is such a valuable commodity in today's economy.

"Trinity Laban is working hard to make the work of our wonderful teaching staff and students better known with important decision makers such as Jonathan, and it was a real pleasure to see how positively he embraced the work we do here."

Jonathan Evans is Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Classical Music.

The Industry and Parliament Trust (IPT) is a registered charity dedicated to promoting mutual understanding between Parliament, business, industry and commerce for the public benefit. This is achieved by encouraging dialogue between legislators and wealth generators from all sectors of business. The IPT is independent, non-partisan and non-lobbying.

Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance was formed in 2005 by the merger of Trinity College of Music and contemporary dance centre Laban. It is the UK's only conservatoire of music and dance, leading collaboration and exploration across the two artforms. For more information on the Fellowship scheme, please visit Industry and Parliament Trust - Cultural and Creative Industries Fellowship.

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