Investigation: Andrew Lloyd Webber-Backed Drama School ArtsEd Defends Culture Amid Allegations Of Bullying, Misconduct & Toxicity
When Andrew Lloyd Webber pocketed nearly $40M from the sale of a Pablo Picasso masterpiece in 2011, his thoughts turned to a performing arts school in the leafy London neighborhood of Chiswick.
Arts Educational, a century-old institution better known as ArtsEd, shaped Julie Andrews’ soprano voice long before she was singing in the hills of Salzburg.
More recent star graduates include Andrews’ Bridgerton bedfellow Simone Ashley. Lloyd Webber has had an official association with ArtsEd since 2007 and, armed with his Picasso cash pile, the musical theatre impresario made a donation to the school that was, at the time, the most generous act of philanthropy in the history of his charitable foundation.
The £3.5M ($4M) grant in 2013 funded a refurbishment of ArtsEd’s main theatre, a proscenium arch performance space that now bears his name.
