The Theatres Trust Charitable Fund

The Theatres Trust Charitable Fund is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (charity number 274697).

The Theatres Trust Charitable Fund is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. It exists to promote the maintenance, use and better protection of theatres and places of entertainment for the benefit of the nation, and it provides strategic capital and other funding to theatres to help them become and remain resilient, environmentally sustainable and inclusive. In its most recent year it paid £419,249 and awarded 56 grants totalling £419,248 across three schemes: the Small Grants Programme, the Theatre Improvement Scheme and Resilient Theatres.

Priority Areas

The foundation provides strategic capital and other funding to theatres to help them become and remain resilient, environmentally sustainable and inclusive, and to contribute to local placemaking. Its grant schemes support improvements and urgent repairs to theatre buildings, alongside projects that improve business resilience, accessibility and environmental sustainability. It also supports groups working to secure the future of theatres on the Theatres at Risk Register, including through strategic and organisational development, skills development and viability work. The Small Grants Programme supports essential building works, key plant and machinery and digital-readiness projects for not-for-profit theatres. Its schemes favour work that protects theatre use, removes barriers to participation and attendance, and demonstrates how a small intervention can have a big impact. Applicants include charitable and not-for-profit theatre operators and groups supporting at-risk theatres, whether voluntarily or professionally run.

Themes

• Theatre resilience
• Environmental sustainability
• Theatre accessibility
• Inclusive theatres
• Theatre building repairs
• Theatres at Risk
• Placemaking

Geographic Focus

UK.

For the Small Grants Programme, applicants are asked to read the scheme guidance notes before making an application.

Deadlines: Each application round has a closing deadline.

Application windows:

• Small Grants Programme: Round 12 is open for applications, with a deadline in January.
• Theatre Improvement Scheme: Applications close in September.

Who can apply:

• Small Grants Programme
  • Applicants must own or manage theatres with titles or signed leases of more than five years on buildings in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
  • Applicants must run a year-round programme of public live performance, of no less than 30 performances a year.
  • Applicants must have a bona fide UK charitable or not-for-profit legal structure and be able to provide certified or audited accounts for at least two years.

What to send:

• Small Grants Programme, Theatre Improvement Scheme: Certified or audited accounts for at least two years.
• Resilient Theatres: Resilient Communities Grant Programme: Proof of partnership funding is required if the project cost exceeds the grant amount.

Applying again: Organisations previously in receipt of grants from the Theatres Trust (including through this scheme) may not apply until 12 months after the date of receipt of the Final Evaluation Report for that award.

What the charity says:

• The programme prioritises building improvements that protect theatre use and remove barriers to participation and attendance.
• It gives priority to projects with total costs below £250,000, or where its grant is the sole external funder or the project is achievable within the total fund awarded.
• It seeks projects that show how a small intervention can have a big impact on theatre buildings’ environmental impact.
• For the Resilient Theatres programme, proposals are expected to involve paying an expert to support the group or undertake work on its behalf.