Genesis Foundation announces its LAMDA scholar for 2011

The Genesis Foundation is pleased to announce its LAMDA scholar for 2011. Recipients of the scholarship receive the support of the Genesis Foundation to help fund their studies during the course of their time at LAMDA, and are chosen from the annual student intake by a panel of judges.

This year’s choice is 18-year old Abu Salim from Welwyn Garden City, who particularly impressed the judges with his maturity and ambition. Members of the judging panel included Dame Janet Suzman, Vice President of LAMDA, Patricia Hodge, a LAMDA alumni, and Harriet Capaldi, Managing Director of the Genesis Foundation, who were all very excited to be awarding the scholarship to Abu: “We are delighted to have selected Abu as the new Genesis LAMDA Scholar as he will undoubtedly develop into a very fine actor and will thrive in LAMDA’s creative environment” said Harriet Capaldi.

John Bashford, LAMDA’s Vice-Principal and Head of Acting, stated that “the panel came to the unanimous conclusion that Abu Salim would best represent the aspiration and challenge of being a Genesis Foundation Scholar at LAMDA. His work showed both strength and vulnerability, clarity of thought and action, and above all, enormous potential.”

Abu’s passion for acting was awoken by his local youth theatre group. This lead to training with the National Youth Theatre and Identity Drama School, which in turn resulted in performances with the National Theatre and on ITV. However, in Abu’s own words, he “did not want to stop there…I learnt a lot from these experiences and they have been thoroughly enjoyable, but I know that my time at LAMDA will be the crucial stage of my training, really helping me to perfect my craft and appreciate fully the area of the creative arts that I adore.”

Abu’s studies at LAMDA will give him a classical training in acting, familiarising him with seminal dramatic works and playwrights, but they will also allow him to build on the modern theatre experience he has already gained. We look forward to hearing more about him in the near future!

For further information about the relationship between the Genesis Foundation and LAMDA, please go to LAMDA partner page.