Make Believe and Midsummer Place link up to search for child star in Milton Keynes

Hundreds of children will gather at the Midsummer Place on June 18. to showcase their talents with the hope of winning a part of the £1,000 cash prize and the opportunity to join the MB Talent platform.

Singing and dancing auditions will be judged across junior (six-nine years old) and senior categories (10plus) to whittle the hopefuls down to 40 finalists. The finalists will then compete for the crown and £500 each at Stantonbury Theatre on October 9.

Make Believe founder and managing director Joel Kern will judge the competition alongside industry experts and leading talent agent Jonathan Marsh.

Previous winners have gone on to become stars, with 2018 finalist Klaudia Gjergji starring in West End production ‘On Your Feet’ this year, and 2017 winner Charis Tetteh taking a role in ‘School of Rock’ since last year.

Kern said: “We’ve been working in partnership with the fantastic team at Midsummer Place to host a competition for children and young people in the local area. When I launched Make Believe in 2004, I wanted to make theatre and performing arts more accessible to young people from all communities and this competition opens those doors. Children can share their talents in hope of winning a cash prize that they can spend towards furthering their dreams.”

Children interested in participating in the competition can book via the website, with more information available at https://www.makebelievegroup.co.uk/one-dream/.

Launched in 2017, One Dream helps to discover talent in children and provide them with an outlet to use energy and hone interpersonal and life skills, such as confidence and communication. By teaming up with shopping centres, hundreds of children are able to register to audition at each One Dream event and showcase their best talents for a chance of winning the cash prize and the possibility of a scholarship to a Make Believe performing arts school and representation on their books. Visit https://makebelievegroup.co.uk for more information.

> Make Believe is a leading children’s performing arts school, launched in 2004 by founder Joel Kern, who began his business journey at the age of 12. Around 3,500 students from age 3 to 18 attend the 50 schools it runs.