Scotland's leading performing arts school and Dumfries House in Ayrshire are to team up to create a new youth arts education programme.
Dumfries House, purchased for £45m by a consortium headed by Charles, Prince of Wales in 2007, will offer arts eduction and a stage for performance in the new relationship with Glasgow's Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
The Royal Conservatoire at Dumfries House will work with its first students in September this year.
It will begin with a series of Junior Conservatoire workshops planned for local schools.
During the first two years of the partnership there will be a programme of concerts and performances at Dumfries House for a variety of musical forms including chamber music, classical repertoire, traditional music and jazz.
Further years will include ballet, musical theatre, drama and contemporary performance.
Professor Jeffrey Sharkey, principal of RCS, said: "I believe that there is something particularly distinctive about the work of RCS and at its heart is our role as a national and international institution for the whole of Scotland.
"That is why I am delighted that the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Dumfries House have taken this bold step to partner with us to educate a new generation of artists for Scotland and beyond.
"I can think of no better learning environment for aspiring performers, communities and professionals than in the wonderful setting of Dumfries House."
Kenneth Dunsmuir, administrative director of Dumfries House, said: "It was very evident to HRH The Duke of Rothesay that, despite the many community, educational and employment initiatives we had developed here on the Dumfries House Estate, the performing arts were not represented.
"Being a patron of RCS, creating a hub here for performance and outreach work seemed the perfect partnership. As an alumnus of RCS (then RSAMD), I feel hugely privileged to have played a part in developing this new initiative knowing the transformative power that the performing arts can have on people’s lives."
The Scottish composer, and founder of The Cumnock Tryst which takes place at the house, Sir James MacMillan, said: "It is with immense excitement that I welcome this new partnership between Dumfries House and RCS.
"As someone who grew up in Cumnock and now having established the music festival, The Cumnock Tryst, it is a source of great satisfaction and pride seeing these two marvellous institutions coming together to build towards the artistic future of the local area.
"Music has always been an important element in the local towns and villages, and this new initiative will cement that, while pushing the potential forward."
The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is ranked sixth in the world for performing arts education.
Dumfries House was built for William Crichton-Dalrymple, the 5th Earl of Dumfries between 1754 and 1759.
The House remains one of the Adam brothers’ – and Robert Adam’s – earliest architectural commissions.
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