Environmentally friendly grants from Theatres Trust

Published: 28 February 2021
Reporter: Sandra Giorgetti

Richmond's Georgian Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre Minerva Theatre exterior
Lyric Theatre, Belfast
Northern Stage, Building exterior
The Marlowe Theatre

Five theatres from across the UK have received grants from Theatres Trust towards their environmental sustainability.

Lyric Theatre, Belfast, Northern Ireland’s only full-time producing theatre, has been given £18,250 to upgrade its building management system which will increase control of, and thereby reduce, energy usage, and Richmond's Georgian Theatre, one of the UK’s oldest theatres, will use the £20,000 it has received to replace boilers and improve ventilation and heating.

The same amount will pay for the installation of photovoltaic solar panels on the roof of Canterbury's The Marlowe, which is expected to offset 10% of the venue's energy usage.

Lighting is another focus and Chichester Festival Theatre, which has received £19,988, will upgrade its lighting and put LEDs into its studio space, whilst the North East’s largest producing theatre, Northern Stage in Newcastle, which has received £20,000, will be changing over the house lights in its main performance space to LED.

This funding has been made through Theatres Trust's partnership with the Wolfson Foundation's Theatre Improvement Scheme, which will see additional support totalling £360,000 allocated over a further two years.

The Theatres Trust's Jon Morgan said, "despite the immediate issues caused by COVID-19, it is imperative that we continue to focus on the long-term environmental sustainability of the theatre sector. Environmentally friendly buildings are not just an ethical imperative but a business necessity that can impact a theatre’s viability.

"The volume and quality of the applications we received for this scheme shows there is a real appetite amongst theatres to make environmental improvements to their buildings, so we are delighted that Wolfson Foundation has renewed this partnership and we’ll be able to help more theatres make vital changes."

The Theatre Improvement Scheme is now accepting applications for grants to a maximum of £20,000 for sustainability initiatives. Eligible organisations will provide no fewer than 30 live performances a year as part of a year-round programme and own or manage theatres through a charitable or not-for-profit legal structure.

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