News: Live Theatre awarded £63, 588 from the Culture Recovery Fund

 Live Theatre awarded £63, 588 from the Culture Recovery Fund  

Live Theatre in Newcastle upon Tyne has received a grant of £63,588 from the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund to help the organisation recover and reopen. More than £300 million has been awarded to thousands of cultural organisations across the country including Live Theatre in the latest round of support from the Culture Recovery Fund, the Culture Secretary announced today. 

 

Live Theatre is the only theatre outside of London dedicated to new writing, championing lesser heard and diverse voices and creating bold, diverse contemporary plays. Established in 1973, Live Theatre plays a vital role in the national theatre ecology with a talent development programme which typically supports over 1,000 independent theatre-makers each year and a celebrated learning and engagement programme for children and young people. Live Theatre is one of the UK’s most enterprising cultural institutions with a ground-breaking social enterprise model that includes a cultural hub of award winning buildings and hospitality venues.  

 

The award from the Culture Recovery Fund will make up a shortfall in income streams derived from Live Theatre’s social enterprises, forced to close as a result of the Covid19 pandemic.  

 

Over £800 million in grants and loans has already been awarded to support almost 3,800 cinemas, performance venues, museums, heritage sites and other cultural organisations dealing with the immediate challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. 

 

The second round of awards made today will help organisations to look ahead to the spring and summer and plan for reopening and recovery. After months of closures and cancellations to contain the virus and save lives, this funding will be a much-needed helping hand for organisations transitioning back to normal in the months ahead.  

 

Jacqui Kell, Live Theatre Executive Director/Joint CEO said:  “The money awarded will be used to support Live Theatre as we develop and deliver an exciting creative programme that supports new and emerging writers, freelance theatre makers, children and young people. Throughout the challenging Covid-19 Pandemic, Live Theatre has had to close its doors and many of the social enterprises in the Live Quarter have also been unable to operate for much of this time and have suffered considerable loss of income, due to constraints on capacity due to Covid19 social distancing restrictions.  The outcome of this has been a significant drop in income received by Live Theatre. Thanks to the support of the Culture Recovery Fund we can look forward to reopening in Autumn 2021 with a superb programme of shows and we can’t wait to welcome audiences back into Live Theatre.” 

 

The funding awarded today is from a pot which was held back last year to ensure the Culture Recovery Fund could continue to help organisations in need as the public health picture changed. The funding has been awarded by Arts Council England, as well as Historic England and National Lottery Heritage Fund and the British Film Institute.