A two-year pilot scheme to increase ethnic diversity of audiences at Camden People’s Theatre has secured £41,500 of funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
Taking an artist-led approach, the scheme will have a number of initiatives running concurrently. These include commissions to support productions from artists of diverse backgrounds and seed commissions for artists to develop new work.
Brian Logan, the venue's, artistic director, said, “we believe there is a direct correlation between the diversity of voices and stories represented on our stages, and the diversity of the audience that attends our theatre.
"Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s generous support will allow us to undertake a comprehensive pilot to test this, embedding practices that will impact on audiences both at CPT and in the wider industry in the long term. Further it will allow us to pursue our ambition to be the first port of call for emerging artists from ethnically diverse backgrounds making contemporary and experimental theatre, and the audiences that love their work.”
Camden People’s Theatre will also be working with Talawa Theatre Company and The Barbican on the scheme.