Arden School of Theatre

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The Arden School of Theatre
Established	1991
Type	Drama school
Head of School	David O'Shea
Founder	City College Manchester and Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
Location	Manchester Greater Manchester M12 6JH England
Website	The Arden School of Theatre

The Arden School of Theatre also known as The Arden is a drama school located in Manchester, England, part of the City College Manchester.

The Arden School of Theatre was founded jointly by the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester and South Manchester College in 1991, to provide vocational degree level theatrical education in the North of England, one of the first to provide theatrical degrees in the United Kingdom. The school then expanded to provide other theatrical professions, and today includes courses covering: actors, musicians, technicians, designers and stage mangers.^[1]

The school now provides foundation courses in Technical Event Management and Operations and Contemporary Theatre Practice, validated by Manchester Metropolitan University. All degree level Bachelor of Arts courses are now validated by the University of Manchester, under a program called the Professional Stage Practice, which enables enrolled students to train in any of the key areas of the profession (light, sound, wardrobe, make-up, acting, musical theatre, stage management or design). The Royal Exchange Theatre remains directly involved, but now as part of the larger managing Theatre Advisory Board.^[1] The school also provides a post graduate diploma level course in Writing for Performance, in which students write for their fellow professions who perform the course and final works in a review format.^[1]

In 2006 The Arden moved into new premises located over three floors at Universal Square, a development by Frogmore Northern who had renovated the former Great Universal Stores head quarters offices.^[2]