We're delighted to be part of The Mackintosh Foundation’s inaugural Regional Theatre Technical Apprenticeship Programme – one of thirteen venues across the UK, offering young people a stepping-stone into the theatre industry and supporting the next generation of technical theatre professionals. 

The programme will fund an Apprentice Production Manager at CFT for two years from September. Joe Jenner has been appointed to the role; a former member of CFT’s Technical Youth Theatre, he graduated from Guildford School of Acting in 2018 and has since been working in stage management. In 2021 CFT pioneered a similar apprenticeship, and our original candidate, Lucy Guyver, will join the RSC as an Assistant Production Manager in October, having successfully completed her CFT training. 

We've also partnered with Chichester College Group to create a new Apprenticeship Coordinator role. Based at CFT, Sally Garner-Gibbons, Manager of Creative Industries Apprenticeships at Chichester College Group, will coordinate the Mackintosh Foundation’s Apprenticeship programme as well as offering bespoke training programmes for non-apprenticeship roles in the participating theatres. Sally, who has over 12 years of experience in teaching, training and mentoring in colleges, university and early careers, as well as over 30 years in technical theatre and live arts, will also support our ongoing highly successful entry and mid-career apprenticeship and traineeship schemes.

The other theatres taking part in The Mackintosh Foundation's programme are Birmingham Hippodrome, Bristol Old Vic Theatre, Curve Leicester, Edinburgh Lyceum Theatre, Leeds Playhouse, Lyric Theatre Belfast, Northern Stage, Nottingham Playhouse, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Sheffield Theatres, Theatr Clwyd and Theatre Royal Plymouth.

Kathy Bourne, our Executive Director, says: ‘We are immensely grateful to the Mackintosh Foundation for its support of a new Apprentice Production Manager, and the opportunity to join the UK network of other regional theatres in the scheme. We recognise the challenges of recruitment in the sector and are delighted to be able to contribute to developing new talent to meet the skills gap left by the pandemic.’