Soho Theatre has been awarded £898,000 as part of the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) to help face the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and to ensure they have a sustainable future, the Culture Secretary has announced today.
Soho Theatre is one of 1,385 cultural and creative organisations across the country receiving urgently needed support. £257million of investment has been announced today as part of the very first round of the Culture Recovery Fund grants programme being administered by Arts Council England. Further rounds of funding in the cultural and heritage sector are due to be announced over the coming weeks.
Soho Theatre is London’s most vibrant producer for new theatre, comedy and cabaret. They pursue creative excellence, harnessing an artistic spirit that is based in their new writing roots, the radical ethos of the fringe and the traditions of punk culture and queer performance. They champion voices that challenge from outside of the mainstream, and sometimes from within it too. They value entertainment, accessibility and enjoy a good show. Soho Theatre are a registered charity and social enterprise and their audiences are diverse in age, background and outlook.
Ordinarily Soho Theatre’s work plays to live audiences of 250,000 audiences a year in their Dean Street venue, at the Edinburgh Fringe and beyond. Since their temporary closure due to Covid-19 they have re-launched their online platform Soho Theatre On Demand, which hosted the phenomenally successful live recording of Fleabag. Soho Theatre are also working towards the opening of an exciting second venue, a “local theatre with a national profile” in Walthamstow, currently slated to open in 2022.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said:
“This funding is a vital boost for the theatres, music venues, museums and cultural organisations that form the soul of our nation. It will protect these special places, save jobs and help the culture sector’s recovery.
“These places and projects are cultural beacons the length and breadth of the country. This unprecedented investment in the arts is proof this government is here for culture, with further support to come in the days and weeks ahead so that the culture sector can bounce back strongly.”
Chair, Arts Council England, Sir Nicholas Serota, said:
“Theatres, museums, galleries, dance companies and music venues bring joy to people and life to our cities, towns and villages. This life-changing funding will save thousands of cultural spaces loved by local communities and international audiences. Further funding is still to be announced and we are working hard to support our sector during these challenging times.”
Soho Theatre said:
“This essential Cultural Recovery Grant gives a vital lifeline to Soho Theatre and the artists and freelancers we work with. This now means we can look towards a partial reopening of Soho Theatre this year, retain our talent development and participation programmes, as well as looking forward to expanding our digital programme and Soho Theatre On Demand, and working with Waltham Forest Council towards the 2022 reopening of the former Walthamstow Granada. Soho Theatre has lost over £4million in box office and bar sales this year and this funding comes at a crucial time. We thank everyone who worked so hard to create and deliver this funding, which helps to secure our future.”
ENDS
ACE Boilerplate for notes to editors:
Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. We have set out our strategic vision in Let’s Create that by 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where everyone of us has access to a remarkable range of high quality cultural experiences. We invest public money from Government and The National Lottery to help support the sector and to deliver this vision. www.artscouncil.org.uk
Following the Covid-19 crisis, the Arts Council developed a £160 million Emergency Response Package, with nearly 90% coming from the National Lottery, for organisations and individuals needing support. We are also one of several bodies administering the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund and unprecedented support package of £1.57 billion for the culture and heritage sector. Find out more at www.artscouncil.org.uk/covid19
Soho Theatre Boilerplate for notes to editors:
Soho Theatre is London’s most vibrant producer for new theatre, comedy and cabaret. We pursue creative excellence, harnessing an artistic spirit that is based in our new writing roots, the radical ethos of the fringe and the traditions of punk culture and queer performance. We champion voices that challenge from outside of the mainstream, and sometimes from within it too. We value entertainment, accessibility and enjoy a good show. We are a registered charity and social enterprise and our audiences are diverse in age, background and outlook.
Ordinarily our work plays to live audiences of 250,000 audiences a year in our Dean Street venue, at the Edinburgh Fringe and beyond. Since our temporary closure due to Covid-19 we have re-launched our online platform Soho Theatre On Demand, which hosted the phenomenally successful live recording of Fleabag. We are also working towards the opening of an exciting second venue, a “local theatre with a national profile” in Walthamstow, currently slated to open in 2022.
Soho Theatre’s board is chaired by Dame Heather Rabbatts DBE and the company is led by Executive Director Mark Godfrey and Creative Director David Luff.
sohotheatre.com | sohotheatreondemand.com | @sohotheatre