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mojatu .com 18 Arts & Culture CHARLOTTE-LOUISE BRAILSFORD: From Nottingham to New York 17 Year old Musical Theatre Performer and student, Charlotte-Louise Brailsford of St Ann’s/ Mapperley requires £30,000 to study at The American Musical & Dramatic Academy in New York City and Los Angeles from October 2016. In a community where many black youth are often looked down on, opportunities for performing in particular were little. Growing up had some challenges like most young people living with single parents. However, Charlotte was always remained passionate about performing from a very young age and kept a close eye on upcoming opportunities. This kept her focused throughout her school years where as a lot of young people she grew up with were happy to sacrifice their inspirations by turn to the streets. Asked what inspires her, Charlotte said “Growing up I have learnt that the good things in life don’t come easy and that you have to work hard to achieve anything of worth. I want to inspire other kids from the streets to make their dreams a reality too”. Charlotte has always dreamed to pursue a career as a leading lady on London’s West End. However, she knew that she had to push her limits to make her dreams come true of getting into a good drama school because of what believed in, despite of her background. In which, Nottingham Teenager Charlotte turned to the states for her first choice drama school and within days was offered a place to study at The American Musical Dramatic Academy of New York City and Los Angeles for four years. “I could have chosen to study somewhere cheaper; somewhere nearer to home, yet why should I settle for something which is less than my dreams?” To accomplish this dream, Charlotte must raise £30,000 for each year of her study’s and is willing to work as hard as she can to make this happen. With her fundraising logo and hashtag “Help Charlotte B get to NYC” or #CharlotteBNYC, she has already started to fundraising. Individuals and organisations have started contributing towards supporting Charlotte towards meeting this goal. Her college, New College Nottingham Clarendon has helped Charlotte by using her talents to show Nottingham that she needs the your help to fund for her four year Musical Theatre degree course in New York and Los Angeles. Mojatu is supporting Charlotte with design of her website, http://charlottebrailsford. com/ and promoting her fund raising campaign. Charlotte uses her art to raise awareness of causes close to her heart- previously working with The Anne Frank Foundation and now the Mojatu Foundation to raise awareness of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and other organisations challenging prejudice and equality. Charlotte has featured in various musicals from Les Miserables to Joseph and The Technicolor Dreamcoat as well as being a part of different film and dance productions across Nottingham. She landed the lead role of “Anne” in the Atlas Av film company advert “The Time Travelling Gardener” and in July 2015, she made her debut as “Dorothy” The Nottingham Lakeside Arts production of “The Wiz”, directed by Martin Berry. She also won the Nottingham “Sing City” competition November 2015 with The Nottingham Music Hub at The Royal Concert Hall.