FORMER Emmerdale, Coronation Street and Hollyoaks actor Thomas Aldersley is lending his expertise to Bradford School of Art’s experience day for their Performing Arts Degree.

Tom, who is from Skipton, and is a former pupil of Aireville School, and colleagues are welcoming members of the public along to the session. Participants will be able to get hands-on with performing arts to understand more about whether this might be the right course for them.

The experience day will include the opportunity to take part in a rehearsal alongside current Year 2 students for an ongoing production and there will be a dedicated session on TV acting run by Thomas in the Bradford School of Art’s state of the art TV studio.

Tom has written and designed the degree course with a central focus of making students industry ready. It means students not only gain essential skills in acting and performance, but also how to create, write, direct and produce their own work for both live and recorded media.

He has created a course, based on his 16 years’ experience that will give students the training they need to walk straight on to a TV set, such as Emmerdale, whilst also being able to create and gain funding for their own work.

The course’s work experience module sees students work with the likes of the Brick Box, the only Higher Education centre to be a Lead Associate School for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), which means student have the opportunity work with the RSC on a number of projects.

“This is a majorly exciting time for performing arts and the north of England. With the BBC announcing it is moving more of its operation to the north, including a new northern soap opera, and ITV and Channel 4 already having a major presence in and around the city, the time really is now,” he said.

“We have many applicants who have taken stock of their lives over the last 12 months and decided to go for it and finally pursue their dream of working towards a career as an actor in the performing arts.

“It’s really never too late and we are proud to say our course has a diverse range of students from those who are 50 years old down to those just finishing A-levels. We’ve got students with children, jobs outside of the course and many other commitments.

The degree’s flexibility offers a wonderful opportunity for any mature students wanting to return to education. The team would love to hear from students of all ages and backgrounds to talk through how the course could work for them.”

The Experience Day will take place on Tuesday, April 20 between 11am and 1pm at The Bradford School of Art’s Lister Building, Great Horton Road, Bradford.

To book a place, contact Tom at t.aldersley@bradfordcollege.ac.uk or you can book via Eventbrite; https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/performing-and-production-arts-experience-day-tickets-145471233375