Manchester’s Royal Exchange, Bolton’s Octagon and Blackpool Grand are amongst the regional venues given new and vital Arts Council funding.
The Exchange has been awarded £499,000 as part of the Council’s Small Capital grants scheme.
It was among 35 successful applicants across the country to win small capital grants. The money helps arts organisations of all sizes have the right buildings and equipment to deliver excellent work for the benefit of the artists and audiences.
Exchange executive director Fiona Gasper said: “This funding will allow us to upgrade our spaces and equipment within the theatre and at our Swan Street site.
“This will support our commitment to increasing the number of community groups, theatre companies and artists that we work with and give the theatre greater visibility from Cross Street and St Ann's Square, as well as upgrading basic plant and lighting”.
The Octagon gets a capital grant of £384,799 that will go towards funding an improvement project which will modernise the stage equipment and improve customer facilities.
The Octagon was awarded the full amount for which it applied, in the face of stiff regional and national competition.
Further funding will be required to complete the improvements that are planned to take place later this year. An additional £100,000 will be used from Octagon reserves and a further £100,000 will need to be raised by the Octagon through other grants as well as a series of fundraising activities and events.
Octagon Theatre chief executive, Roddy Gauld, commented: “We are delighted by the Arts Council’s grant which recognises not only the need to improve the theatre, but also how important the Octagon is to Bolton and the North West. We will now be able to bring our auditorium and stage systems up to date, reduce our energy consumption and create a more comfortable and spacious front of house environment.”
Blackpool’s Grand Theatre has succeeded in making it through to the final stage of the Capital Grant programme. The Theatre bid for £700,000 towards the development of a Blackpool Performing Arts Hub in vacant premises on Church Street.
The Theatre and the Friends of The Grand have already raised £1m towards the cost of buying the premises and beginning the first phase of construction work that will eventually incorporate a new box office, education centre, improved catering facilities and enhanced access to the studio theatre.
David Coupe, chairman, Blackpool Grand Theatre Trust, said: “We have fought off intense competition from major arts organisations throughout England to make it through to the final stage, and we will now submit the detailed proposal for our new Performing Arts Hub before finding out later this year whether we have secured the funding.”
The Royal Shakespeare Company has also chosen Blackpool Grand among five new regional theatre partners for its Learning and Performance Network for the next three years.
Established in 2006, the programme works through partnerships of schools and their local theatre to bring about a significant change in the way young people experience and engage with Shakespeare.
The Grand’s partnership with the RSC will offer an exciting three years for local schools and colleges. This will include a visit from the RSC's Young Peoples Touring Production and a range of theatre and arts projects which will offer creative ways for students to explore the people and places in Shakespeare's stories. In the final year The Grand will create a Shakespeare Festival with schools, colleges and the RSC.