The Theatres Trust Small Grants Scheme was set up to support theatres in need and at risk, to address urgent building repairs, improve their operational viability, introduce environmental improvements, and enhance physical accessibility.
In this, the eighth round of awards to be announced since the scheme was set up in 2012 with the support of the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation and Judy Craymer MBE, the awards go to five theatres who have seriously suffered from weather conditions.
Those successful this time are:
- Theatre Royal Winchester
- Friargate Theatre York
- Tron Theatre Glasgow
- Bridgwater Arts Centre
- Marine Theatre Lyme Regis
Theatre Royal Winchester
This Grade 2 listed, 400-seat theatre provides facilities for professional touring companies and local amateur companies.
It receives £5,000 for urgent structural and fabric repairs, towards repairing and decorating the Tower Street façade of the theatre and addressing the cause of water ingress.
Friargate Theatre
This 100-seat York theatre is a 19th-century building adapted to theatre use in 2000. A professional venue and community resource that is home of the Riding Lights Theatre Company, it was a casualty of the flooding in York last December.
It receives £5000 for the projected creation of two access traps in the office floor and the installation of smart air bricks so the building can be fully dried out, as well as the purchase and installation of a permanent sump and pump, which will help protect the interior of the building against future flooding.
Tron Theatre
This Category B listed theatre in Glasgow, built as a church in 1795, was converted into a theatre in 1982. Its 230-seat main house and a 50-seat studio serve Glasgow’s diverse community with an eclectic programme of work.
Suffering from serious leaks requiring urgent action, its £5000 award goes towards water damage repair and to address water ingress affecting the backstage corridor and the office block.
Bridgwater Arts Centre
This three-storey Grade I listed building, formerly a Georgian merchant’s house, has a 175-seat auditorium. It was the first arts centre to be funded by the Arts Council in 1946 and is now celebrating its 70th anniversary.
It receives £2,980 towards urgent backstage repairs where leakages have made a backstage toilet unusable and to prevent further structural issues to the roof beams.
Marine Theatre
The 200-seat Marine Theatre, built in 1894, is located in a conservation area in Lyme Regis’s cultural and historic centre.
The recent recipient of coastal revival funding from the Government to repair its roof, a grant of £5000 from the Small Grants Scheme will provide further funding to restore the weather-damaged 1940s exterior to its original art deco glory and help secure the future viability of this much loved coastal theatre.
Trustees of The Theatres Trust will meet in December 2016 to consider further Small Grants Scheme awards. Deadline for round nine applications is midday on Wednesday 26 October 2016.