When Ollie met Gordon

Young actor Ollie Gardner has stepped out on to a new stage - the country's seat of power.

The 12-year-old from Saltford is sharing the title role in Billy Elliot the Musical in the West End.

And this week, to mark its fifth anniversary, all four dancers were invited to 10 Downing Street to meet Prime Minister Gordon Brown and help launch a new Government programme to help young people find work in the arts.

Kingswood School pupil Ollie and his colleagues Dean-Charles Chapman, Tom Holland and Fox Jackson-Keen were taken on a tour of number 10.

They met Culture Minister Margaret Hodge and then chatted to Mr Brown in the Cabinet Room.

After posing for photographs outside number 10, they were taken on a tour of number 11 - the official residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer by Alistair Darling's wife Maggie.

They also met Mr Darling and Business Secretary Lord Mandelson.

The show, which is at the Victoria Palace Theatre, is set during the Miners' Strike - giving the boys' visit an added political dimension and providing a topic for conversation with Mr Brown.

Year 8 pupil Ollie said: "It was an absolutely wonderful experience – we were able to sit and chat with Gordon Brown and even sat on Winston Churchill's chair in the Cabinet Room."

The Premier and Ms Hodge announced a two-year grants programme to provide at least 40 internships with established arts companies for graduates from deprived backgrounds. The initial £600,000 programme will begin in September and be managed by the Jerwood Foundation arts charity, which is chaired by Alan Grieve.

The pilot scheme aims to make it easier for talented creative young people, with an arts degree, to find jobs in a market where unpaid internships are common, putting those from low income backgrounds at a disadvantage.

The spirit of the initiative aims to reflect that of the Billy Elliott story - about a boy from a working class background who realises his artistic dreams.

Mr Brown said: "We are rightly proud of the huge amount of talent and creativity that exists in the arts in the UK.

"This funding will help give some of our gifted young artists the extra support and valuable experience they need to get a foot in the door of our creative industries and help them on their way to realising their full potential. It is a vital boost for some of our great future actors, artists and musicians who may otherwise have slipped through the net."

Billy Elliott The Musical director Stephen Daldry said the bursary scheme was "a fantastic opportunity for the industry to nurture the next generation of creative talent."