The school was founded jointly by the Royal Exchange Theatre and South Manchester College in 1991 by the senior curriculum manager Robert S. Ely, to provide vocational degree level theatrical education in the North of England, one of the first to provide theatrical degrees in the United Kingdom.

The name derived from the original City College Arden Campus where the drama school had been based between 1991 and 2004, in Northenden, South Manchester.

In September 2010 The Arden moved into Nicholls House, Ardwick, Manchester, a renovated Victorian building with additional rehearsal space, production rooms, and voice and singing rooms.

The Arden teaching faculty includes theatre professionals such as musical director Robert Purvis[3][4] and actor/composer Graham Lappin, television and film actors Marie Critchley,[5] and Paul Broughton,[6] dancers Belinda Grantham and Tomas Simon, and performance makers Wayne Steven Jackson and Graham Hicks.

Graduates showcases are presented each year both in the region and in London, with a number of casting agents for acting, dance, and musical theatre.