Bankstown City Council and the Department of Education and Training have formed a unique partnership to discover and support talented young performers from both private and public schools in the Bankstown school district.
The Talent Advancement Program (TAP) is designed for local students in Years 5 to 12. It enables students to gain confidence and learn important skills in the performing arts from an expert team.
Bankstown Mayor, Councillor David Blake, said TAP was developed as a result of the highly successful Bankstown Millennium Buzz spectacular, held in 2000 to celebrate the Sydney Olympics.
“The Buzz involved over 3,500 youth performing at the Olympic velodrome and was made possible through a partnership between Council and the Department of Education and Training,” he said. “It was an overwhelming success and we wanted to ensure a lasting legacy was put in place to benefit current and future generations of local youth.”
A number of young performers who starred in the Buzz have moved on to promising careers in the entertainment industry. They include Pauline Curuenavuli (winner of Starstruck in 2001); Sean Rennie (who is currently playing Pepper in the highly successful stage show Mamma Mia) and Arrnott Olssen (who won hearts in the final rounds of the second Popstars and appeared as the ‘face of charity’ during Charity Awareness Week May 2002).
Other stars from the Millennium Buzz are also forging careers in the entertainment industry, including sister act Ria and Christine Pirrelli from Chablis and Luke Dixon and Amanda Tunks from Xlerate. Bankstown has produced some of Australia’s top entertainers, and home grown stars will act as mentors for TAP, including Col Joye, Kevin Jacobsen and Human Nature’s Andrew and Michael Tierney.
For further information, contact Teena Riley at Bankstown City Council’s Media Unit on (02) 9707 9439.
