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Dance and Drama Awards: see if you qualify

Dance and Drama Awards are available from 21 private dance and drama schools in England.

Whether you qualify for an award depends on your age, nationality or residential status, and course.

Your age

To apply for a dance course you must be 16 or over.

To apply for acting or stage management courses you must be 18 or over.

If you are under 16, you may be able to apply for the Music and Dance scheme. This is a separate scheme that can help parents pay the fees and boarding costs at eight specialist independent schools which are centres of excellence in their field.

• Find out more about the Music and Dance Scheme Opens new window

Nationality and residency requirements

You could be eligible for an award if:

• you are a European Union (EU) or European Economic Area (EEA) country national ; and 
• you have been resident in the EU or an EEA country for the three years immediately before the first day of the first academic year of the course

You may also be eligible if you have refugee status, or have indefinite leave to enter or remain in the UK and you have been resident in the UK since you were granted this status.

If you have been out of the United Kingdom or EU because your parents have been temporarily employed elsewhere during the last three years, you would be considered to have been resident throughout the whole period.

Your course

You will only be eligible to receive a Dance and Drama Award if you take the Trinity College London qualification at one of the 21 accredited providers.

The awards do not cover general university or college degrees, or courses in dance or drama other than those listed.

To search the list of providers, follow the below links.

• Dance and Drama Awards: courses and schools (A-M)
• Dance and Drama Awards: courses and schools (N-Z)

How much you could get

To find out how much you’ll get, follow the below link.

• Dance and Drama Awards: how much you could get

Effect on other financial help

Education Maintenance Allowance

If you have a Dance and Drama Award, you will not be entitled to Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA).

This applies even if you are also studying for A levels.

The Dance and Drama Award courses are at Levels 5 and 6 on the National Qualifications Framework. To be entitled to EMA, your course must be Level 3 or below.

• Qualifications: what the different levels mean

How to apply for a Dance and Drama Award

To apply for an award, you need to contact one of the 21 private dance and drama training schools.

• Dance and Drama Awards: how to apply

Further information

This information is also available in a booklet that you can download in PDF format. 

Hard copy format booklets can be obtained by:

• phoning 0845 60 222 60
• selecting option 4; and
• quoting reference LSC-DD1

If you have any further queries about the scheme, contact the Dance and Drama Awards helpdesk.

• Contact the Dance and Drama Awards helpdesk
• Download Dance and Drama Awards leaflet (PDF, 982K)
• Help with PDF files