Theatres Trust supports 40 more UK theatres become Covid-safe in final round of Reopening Fund Grants
The Theatres Trust have awarded their final Theatre Fund Reopening grants to 40 theatres across the UK.
The grants, which total £155,265, will help the theatres with the costs of their Covid-secure reopening plans, including improvements to the ventilation systems, and changing the building to reduce congestion. They will also allow venues to invest in installing hand sanitisers and screens.
The theatres chosen include significant producing theatres, such as Hampstead Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith, Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Theatre Royal Bath. Venues specialising in dance (such as Northern Ballet) and new writing (Traverse, New Diorama, Gate Theatre) have also been awarded funds. Major receiving houses, Capital Theatres and Worthing Theatres, have been awarded funding of £4,750 and £1,835, respectively. The Capital Theatres grant will allow for 25 sanitising stations to be installed, front of house and backstage, across their three venues: King’s Theatre, Festival Theatre and The Studio. They will also be able to install non-contact taps in the front of house toilets to reduce touch points.
Worthing Theatres grant will allow them to introduce a package of measures, including screens and antibacterial fogging machines, across all three of their Grade 2 listed receiving houses: The Connaught Theatre, Assembly Hall, and Pavilion Theatre.
Other recipients of the grants include one of the country’s few puppet theatres, Upfront Theatre, alongside several community theatres, including young people-focused Blue Elephant Theatre and Hanger Farm Arts Centre, which works with people with learning disabilities.
Many non-traditional theatre buildings have been given grants too, including the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, the country’s last remaining Regency theatre; The People’s Theatre and Blackburn Empire, who both reside in converted cinemas, and Headgate Theatre and Lowestoft Players Theatre, which are former churches. Pub theatres like Jack Studio Theatre, outdoor spaces such as Rutland Open Air, and travelling theatres like Paines Plough have all been included as well.
The Theatre Reopening Fund launched in June 2020 as a response to the pandemic, and since its beginnings has supported 75 theatres across the UK, with grants totalling £301,873. This fund was made possible by the generous support of funders; Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, Charles Michael Holloway Charitable Trust, Judy Craymer CBE, Soho Estates, The Basil Samuel Charitable Trust, The Foyle Foundation, The Mackintosh Foundation, The Pilgrim Trust, The Swire Charitable Trust, Theatre Royal, Haymarket, and Theatre Super Auction.
A full list of the theatres supported by this grant can be found here on the Theatre Trusts website.
