We are delighted to be continuing our partnership with the Theatres Trust. We’ve awarded them a three-year grant (2023-25) of £90,000 to support their work protecting theatres across the UK. Below we share why our partnership began and plans for the next three years.
Theatres Trust is the national advice and advocacy body for the UK’s theatres. They believe people should have access to theatres wherever they live across the UK. The Trust was established in 1976 following the demolition or irreversible alteration of more than 800 theatres in the 60 years before. They protect theatres by advising, campaigning, developing best practice and offering grants.
Like so many beloved community buildings, theatres are often older, ‘at risk’ buildings. As a heritage funder, we want to help preserve the best of our past for the public to enjoy. That’s where the Theatres Trust’s and our mission overlap – both of us want to preserve at-risk buildings and build sustainable futures for them. In this case, supporting at-risk theatres will also champion the future of live performance –an important part of the Theatres Trust’s purpose.
Theatres At Risk Register
We first started working with the Theatres Trust in 2019. We co-funded the ‘Theatres at Risk: Capacity Building Programme’, a three-year project to provide funding and in-depth support to theatres on the ‘Theatres at Risk’ register. The Theatres at Risk register is published annually to highlight and support the theatre buildings under threat across the UK. Every theatre on the Register has strong architectural merit or cultural heritage and the potential to be returned to its original performance use and be a real asset to its community. Since 2006 the Theatres Trust has helped save more than 80 theatres on the Theatres at Risk list. Examples on the list include Brighton Hippodrome and Doncaster Grand
Caption: Leith Theatre. Credit: Theatres Trust.
Building capacity for theatres
The ‘Theatres at Risk: Capacity Building Programme’ supported 15 theatres over 3 years with various types of support, for instance, commissioning essential reports like viability studies, market appraisals and economic impact assessments.
A great example is Morecambe Winter Gardens, a Grade II* listed large concert party hall, believed to be the only remaining building of its type. Currently only the ground floor and stalls can be used for audiences with a substantial amount of work needed to restore the rest of the building. The Morecambe Winter Gardens Preservation Trust (MWGPT) was awarded £22,000 through the programme to run a governance and training review and receive business planning support. As a result, the MWGPT have developed their governance, helping them unlock more funding. Between 2019 and 2022 over £1.4m has been raised and in March 2022, they were additionally awarded £2.74m through the Arts Council’s Cultural Development Fund to enable further restoration work.
Caption: Morecambe Winter Gardens. Credit: Theatres Trust.
Similarly, Leith Theatre is lovely, mid-sized but empty music venue in Edinburgh that needs further restoration. In May 2020, the theatre was awarded £11,000 to upskill the organisation’s staff and to receive consultancy support in various aspects of theatre operation and management. The aim was to help Leith Theatre make the transition from being a campaigning organisation trying to save the building to a theatre operator.
Through the programme, we can see how theatres receive much needed, bespoke support. Working with the Theatres Trust’s supportive team, theatres gained much confidence to engage with key stakeholders, such as Historic England and local councils, and generally built new skills. In turn, this early investment gave potential funders greater confidence in funding them.
What’s next? Building resilient theatres and communities
Riding on the success of the ‘Theatres at Risk: Capacity Building Programme’, we are funding the Theatres Trust’s new programme, ‘Resilient Theatres: Resilient Communities’, in partnership with Swire Charitable Trust and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The new programme built on learnings from the previous programme; the Theatres Trust realised funding for early-stage viability works and organisational support provides a strong foundation for theatres to make real progress. It also considers the long-term effects of the Covid-19 pandemic where theatres have asked for more support in specific skills and areas.
Caption: Leith Theatre. Credit: Chris Scott & Theatres Trust.
The new programme will run over three years and offers at-risk theatres grants and a cohort training programme. To develop expertise across the sector, they are running a series of free webinars open to all and developing a ‘Skills Bank’ of expert consultants to complement existing advice. Early support is one of the hallmarks of our funding too –we see early investment into preservation projects can build confidence and exponentially help heritage organisations grow.
Returning to Morecambe Winter Gardens, they have also has successfully applied to the Resilient Theatres: Resilient Communities grant scheme, receiving £11,500 to commission an audience development strategy. Morecambe Winter Gardens has been on the Theatres at Risk Register since the list began in 2006 and had made slow, faltering progress until 2019. Now its future is looking much more certain!
We’re really delighted to be partnering with the Theatres Trust for the next three years to help at-risk theatres. Together, we will help protect these historic and culturally significant buildings and help bring back live performances to local communities across the UK.
Explore our other strategic partners. Over the next few months, we’ll be introducing more of our strategic partners and exploring the impact of our joint work.
Lead image: Hair at Gielgud Theatre. Photo Credit: Ian Grundy & Theatres Trust.