Student’s Set Design Gets Royal Approval

A Leeds City College Production Arts student has received royal approval for one of her set designs.

Second year Sophie Westmoreland from Park Lane Campus was one of the 12 winners in this year’s Royal Opera House Design Challenge to design everything from costume to set for an opera production of La Boheme at London’s Covent Garden.

For the second year running, the Royal Opera House issued the challenge to students from the eight Skills Academy Founder Colleges, of which Leeds City College is one, to give them an experience of the realities of the design sector, including the chance to discuss their designs with regional experts at the in-college judging round.

Sophie joined the other 160 entrants at a matinee performance of Puccini’s opera earlier this month, before viewing an exhibition of their work and hearing the overwhelmingly positive feedback from the judges, who included a number of design specialists within the Royal Opera House and Es Devlin, who is currently designing the closing ceremony for the Olympic games, before the 12 winners were announced.

Judges commented on how well-developed many of the entries were, and how varied in approach, and were especially impressed with the winners’ confidence talking about their design process.

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Sarah Towns
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Leeds City College
t: 0113 284 6411
e: sarah.towns@leedscitycollege.ac.uk