Birmingham Hippodrome has announced it will be home to the first in-house musical theatre department at a UK venue to develop new musicals in the West Midlands.

The new department will be led by a Head of New Musical Theatre, who will grow a specialist team and collaborate with creatives and partners to create new production opportunities in Birmingham and beyond. Recruitment for this pivotal new role is open now.

The dedicated department will commission, develop and produce new musicals as part of the Hippodrome’s core business, alongside offering skills development, employment, and a new Writers Lab, supporting more sustainable career pathways in musical theatre.

The team will operate from a dedicated studio space at the Hippodrome, ensuring an inspiring and dynamic creative environment for new work to grow. Work developed will be presented on all the Hippodrome’s stages and with partners across the country. The Hippodrome’s Patrick Studio will be a year-round home for new work, new musicals and new audiences.

Jon Gilchrist, Artistic Director and CEO of Birmingham Hippodrome said: “Over 260,000 people come to see musical theatre at the Hippodrome every year and we know our audiences are hungry for new musicals. This next phase in our artistic ambitions sees the organisation make a long-term commitment to developing musical theatre on site and making more opportunities for careers in musical theatre.

“Audiences will play a key role in every step of the process, from invites to work in progress sharings, first performances in our studios, all the way up to large scale new productions.”

The Hippodrome has been working in consultation with theatre producer and consultant Vicky Graham, who specialises in creative and strategic development of new musicals.

The new department and producing plans have been developed over several months as part of the Hippodrome’s new five-year business strategy. The musical theatre strand has been developed in consultation with national and international industry peers, alongside local and national artists at all stages of their careers.

To view the recruitment pack for the vacancy of Head of New Musical Theatre at Birmingham Hippodrome, click here. Applications close on Friday 9 June.