Congratulations to Central's Class of 2022

Congratulations to Central’s Class of 2022, who graduated on Wednesday 7 December in a ceremony held at London’s Royal Festival Hall.   

Central’s Principal Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE presided over the ceremony and opened proceedings by addressing the graduands.  

“No matter how tough these last months and years have been, nothing shall take away from today – which is your moment to be congratulated and celebrated. To acknowledge your humanity, determination, creativity – and to know that each one of you will go on to be something amazing.”  - Principal Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE  

Josette Bushell-Mingo was joined virtually by Central’s President Sonia Friedman OBE, who also addressed the graduands, and on stage by Central’s Chair of Governors John Willis, and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of London Professor Wendy Thomson CBE, who conferred the Degrees.   

Performances from Central’s BA (Hons) Acting Musical Theatre Class of 2023, with Musical Direction from Course Leader Wendy Gadian, also featured on the day. Choreography and movement direction was by Dr Tia-Monique Uzor and performed by MFA Movement: Directing and Teaching students Amelia Chinnock-Schumann and Giaele Mattioli and MA Music Theatre student Gloria Huang.

CLASS OF 2022 - CEREMONY  

In a ceremony celebrating the achievements of the Class of 2022, Central was pleased to award its 528 graduates with:  

• 13 Certificates  

• 6 Diplomas  

• 215 Bachelor of Arts with Honours Degrees  

• 1 Postgraduate Certificate  

• 1 Postgraduate Diploma  

• 240 Master of Arts Degrees 

• 50 Master of Fine Arts Degrees 

• 2 Doctors of Philosophy 

Central was also pleased to award Honorary Fellowships to Anna Herrmann and Tracy Ifeachor and an Honorary Doctor of Literature of the University of London to Alby James.  

“It’s a huge privilege to receive this Honorary Fellowship from Central and one which I take deep pride in. Central has been an important part of my own educational and professional career over the past 25 years, and as an institution which has committed itself to the difficult journey of dismantling oppression, I am honoured to be associated with it and recognized in this way.”-   Anna Herrmann, Honorary Fellow   

“I am delighted and honoured to be a recipient of the Fellowship Award from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, one of the leading institutions in the world for the creative arts. 

Central’s training gave me the confidence to walk into any room and know that I belonged there, so to be acknowledged for helping the next generation of students to achieve their goals, and to be honoured for this, is truly humbling.  

Central’s willingness  to embrace cultural representation in its curriculum is an exciting development and I’m delighted to be any small part of this. 

 This award is a wonderful encouragement to keep doing something I’m passionate about. I am particularly passionate about helping to establish and enable a safe environment to exist, where each student feels valued. It is my hope that every student will feel empowered, to achieve their full potential while at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and beyond.” - Tracy Ifeachor, Honorary Fellow 

“My hope now is that the days of leaders in the arts being afraid of difference is over. If so, we will continue to embrace all kinds of difference to keep renewing our forms to find new audiences and participants who discover that the arts give them both a voice and place for showing who they are and saying what they think. Art gives one the capacity to enjoy life or endure it, I always say.” - Alby James, Honorary Doctor of Literature of the University of London 
 

The Honorands join Central in congratulating the newly graduated Class of 2022 and in wishing them success in their future careers.   

Wherever their future takes them after graduation, they will always remain an important part of the Central network, and Central is committed to ensuring that graduates’ links with the School do not end at graduation but are carried throughout their lives.  

For over 100 years, many of the most preeminent theatre practitioners and performers in the world have been Central alumni. We see our relationship with those we train as lifelong, and all graduates of Central are part of this legacy and are encouraged to stay engaged with the school and tap into its thriving alumni community.    

Find out more about our alumni networks, events, benefits and dedicated programmes of support by visiting our Alumni pages or contacting our Alumni Office.  

ABOUT THE HONORANDS  

Anna Herrmann (Honorary Fellow): Anna Herrmann has been working in the field of theatre and social change for over 30 years, specialising in theatre making and education with marginalised groups in the UK and abroad. She joined Clean Break as Head of Education in 2002 and became the joint Artistic Director and Joint CEO in 2018, moving to sole Artistic Director in July 2022.  

She has an MA in Arts Education (1998) from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and a PG Certificate (Distinction) in Race and Ethnic Relations (2002) from Birkbeck University. She is a regular visiting lecturer on Applied Theatre courses at universities across England and between 2006 and 2018 was a trustee of Leap Confronting Conflict, a UK based national charity specialising in youth and conflict.  

Anna sits on the Advisory Board of the National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance and is also a trained coach and regularly mentors artists working in participatory settings. For Clean Break, Anna has most recently co-directed Through This Mist (2021), and directed Not Pretty Like The Rainbow (2020) and Sweatbox (tour 2019-2020 and film 2021). She is co-author of ‘Making a Leap: Theatre of Empowerment: A Practical Handbook for Creative Drama Work with Young People’ (Jessica Kingsley Publishers).  

Tracy Ifeachor (Honorary Fellow): Tracy secured her first acting job with the Royal Shakespeare Company before she graduated from Central, and her career has since gone from strength to strength. Having been nominated for the prestigious Ian Charleson Award early in her career, Tracy has continued to steal scenes on both stage and screen.  

Tracy was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award for her portrayal of Cleo Roberts in BBC One’s Showtrial in 2021, a five-part crime drama from the producers of Line Of Duty and Bodyguard. This performance made her one of the first female actors of Tracy’s heritage to ever play a lead on BBC1.  

Her recent starring roles include Tim Kring’s and Ben Smith’s US action television series Treadstone (Amazon Prime), and in Season 3 of DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow (ABC). Tracy appeared in BBC’s Doctor Who in 2009, starring opposite David Tennant in his final episodes as The Doctor in The End Of Time. Her notable screen credits include Hawaii 5-0, Strike Back, Blooded And Jo, and notable stage credits include Noughts & Crosses (Royal Shakespeare Company), Raisin In The Sun (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester) and Welcome To Thebes (National Theatre).  

Tracy is part of the Central’s mentoring graduates programme, helping the next generation safely transition into the industry. She helps fundraise for the School, including as part of the ‘Keep Creating’ scheme. She also regularly gives workshops and sits on the School’s audition panels. When in New York, Tracy enjoys volunteering and supporting The Father’s Heart Soup Kitchen and homeless education programme. She has also served for four years on the BAFTA Learning Inclusion and Talent Committee and is a founding member of Central’s Independent Equity Committee. She also founded and runs the 10-year-old Simulate Roleplay, a company which helps support medical professionals through simulated roleplays and, most importantly to her, provides an income for resting actors to ensure they can afford to remain in the industry. 

Alby James (Honorary Doctor of Literature of the University of London): Alby James is a producer, director, script consultant and talent development trainer. He is currently being supported by the BFI and BBC in the UK to develop emerging projects and talents from the Black and Asian communities for leading creative roles in the film and television industry.

Alby is also Chair of the Independent Equity Committee at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, which was created in 2020 to support the executive leadership in transforming the School into a fully inclusive and post-colonial higher education institution for the training of theatre creators and actors and as a centre of excellence in research for the performing arts.  

He currently has two original series and two feature films in development and is preparing international co-productions for projects from producers in Jamaica, South Africa and Nigeria.  

He also continues working as a part-time tutor with the UK’s major film school, the National Film and Television School, teaching screenwriting on the Certificate in Filmmaking, which is an introductory Master’s level course in the major disciplines. Previously for the school, Alby launched the Annual Diverse Directors’ Workshop over three years, sponsored by EON Productions and Disney. Post the pandemic, the course has been revived with sponsorship from Prime Video.

Throughout his career, Alby has worked with government and other agencies to support the development of diversity, equity and inclusion and high standards in the arts and media and was recognised for this with the award of an OBE in the Queen’s 2019 New Year’s Honours List.