A LEADING performing arts academy in Hull says it needs to raise at least £500,000 to repair its crumbling building.

The Northern School of Performing Arts (Napa) is based in a grade two listed property in Anlaby Road that was built more than 100 years ago.

The not-for-profit drama and dance school teaches about 1,300 children every week but currently receives no charitable funding.

All proceeds raised from events is put back into the academy and to fund outreach projects at local schools.

Operations manager Barbara Dawson said the school was the lifeblood of community performing arts in Hull.

“We are the largest examination and training centre in the North East and we have never had anyone fail their exams.

“We run more than 90 classes a week, but most people still don’t seem to know we are here and what we do.”

Ms Dawson said the school was now applying for funding from charitable organisations such as Arts Council England and the National Lottery to protect the Edwardian building from further decay.

Ms Dawson said: “Every single penny we raise goes straight back to fund teachers for the academy.

“Our whole ethos is to invest any extra funding we get into teaching for the children. There isn’t anything left to spend on the building.

“It’s really beautiful, but it is very old and starting to deteriorate in places. We have to get the buckets out when it rains.

“It’s time to start looking at other funding.”

Napa is considered a hotbed of local creative talent and many former students have gone on to enjoy professional success, including dancer Liam Bower, who was the first the person to perform the role of Billy Elliot on the West End stage.

The academy performs 20 shows a year. Its most recent musical, The Phantom Of The Opera, was the only show to have sold out every performance at Hull Truck Theatre.

In the past four years, Hull Truck Theatre has received eight bailouts from arts funding organisations totalling more than £1.75m, including an emergency grant of £250,000 in January.

Ms Dawson said the school deserved a similar level of financial support to help the next generation of talented actors, singers and dancers.

“We’ve got big ambitions to expand the centre and offer dance or drama classes for primary school pupils across Hull who don’t have any access to the performing arts.

“We are bursting at the seams at the moment and we would love an opportunity to offer classes to even more children, but at the moment there just isn’t any room.”