U26 Free Theatre Initiative

Audiences London are delighted to announce that amongst a wide range of theatres across London which have been successful in their bids to this initiative (see full list below), 12 of London?s leading producing theatres were successful in a joint bid. This group comprises of the Almeida Theatre, Battersea Arts Centre, Bush Theatre, Donmar Warehouse, Greenwich Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith, Royal Court, Soho Theatre, Tricycle Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford East and the Young Vic, facilitated by Audiences London.
 
This grant of £300,000 over two years from February 2009 ? March 2011 will add considerable value to the existing audience development programmes focusing on young people and enable the consortium to signpost the wealth of opportunities to a much wider public. The theatres came together to develop audiences collaboratively and strategically in 2004 and has recently also been awarded an ACE Thrive! grant to advance this ground-breaking collective, coordinated by Audiences London.
 
The consortium approach will add value in the following ways:

• Make a significant offer to young people in terms of free tickets and other opportunities.
• Enable the theatres to learn from one another?s approach to audience development.
• Develop models of best practice across the consortium.
• Provide the profile required for the scheme to make an impact in a city the size of London - beyond ?usual suspect? core audiences.
• Position the theatres as a persuasive, collective offering to young people.
• Introduce young people to a wider range of theatre experiences.
• Enable the theatres to ?share the risk? of giving away free tickets.
• Leverage significant new strategic partnerships (locally and regionally).
  

 

London's other successful bids are:

Premium award (£50,000 each)
National Theatre (Southwark)
Barbican Centre (City of London)
Rose Theatre (Kingston)

Standard award (£30,000 each)
Hackney Empire Studio Theatre (Hackney)
Trafalgar Studios (Westminster)
Pleasance Theatre (Islington)
The Churchill (Bromley)
Arcola Theatre (Hackney)
Polka Theatre (Merton)

Flexible award (£10,000 each)
Tara (Wandsworth)
Blue Elephant Theatre (Southwark)
The Albany (Lewisham)
artsdepot (Barnet)
Harrow Arts Centre (Harrow)
Millfield Arts Centre (Enfield)
Orange Tree Theatre (Richmond)
Roundhouse (Camden)
Gate Theatre (Kensington and Chelsea)
Half Moon (Tower Hamlets)

For further details please visit the Arts Council's website here.