THE THEATRES TRUST RELEASES 38TH ANNUAL REPORT
27 October 2015, London, UK
The Theatres Trust releases its 38th Annual Report: ‘Empowering communities to protect theatres’’ which highlights its achievements from April 2014 to March 2015.
As the National Advisory Body for Theatres we provide advice and support to secure a better and more sustainable future for the nation’s valued theatres. We champion all theatres and provide expert knowledge and an authoritative voice on the significance and value of theatres.
Mhora Samuel, Director of The Theatres Trust said “The Trust’s focus this year was our work with local communities and we worked with more theatres than ever, helped more projects with advice as well as financial resources, and developed our new workshop programme to inject new skills into organisations – helping communities and theatre owners to find innovative solutions to ensure no city, town or community is without access to a theatre.
Tim Eyles, appointed as Chair of The Theatres Trust in February 2015 said “The Trust has a vital role in protecting theatres for everyone, and I intend to continue the great work of my predecessor Rob Dickens CBE and ensure that the Trust’s role as an advisor, a champion and a resource for theatres grows. In the next three to five years you will hear the Trust’s voice more often and loudly, and we are already starting to plot a clear path.”
In 2014/15 the Trust published its annual Theatre Buildings at Risk Register 2014 at Brighton Theatre Royal, highlighting the challenges facing top theatre at risk Brighton Hippodrome. We awarded ten grants totalling £50,000 from our Small Grants Scheme supported by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation and Judy Craymer MBE to theatres across the nation, helped develop guidance on plaster ceilings in theatres and celebrated initiatives that empowered communities to own and manage their theatres at Conference 14: Community Theatres.
In our unique role as a statutory consultee in the planning system we advised local authorities on 117 theatre-related planning applications and 57 theatre-related listed building consultations, and contributed to 292 local plan consultations securing stronger cultural policies to protect theatres.
Our successful Building Better Theatres Workshop programme provided specialist knowledge to 34 theatres from across the nations, and we provided bespoke one-to-one advice to a further 56 theatres on their capital project development, future viability, conservation, and maintenance.
We also helped 212 researchers access our valuable Archives and Collections to further their studies on the history, design and development of theatres.
The Theatres Trust is the National Advisory Public Body for Theatres. The Trust was established by The Theatres Trust Act 1976, ‘to promote the better protection of theatres’. It is a statutory consultee on theatre buildings in the planning system, provides expert advice on the sustainable development of theatre buildings and helps promote awareness and solutions for theatres at risk. It champions all theatres, historic, contemporary and new in theatre use, in other uses or disused. The Theatres Trust’s central London Theatreland-based Resource Centre provides access to a specialist theatre buildings Reference Library including books and architectural plans.
Download The Theatres Trust’s 38th Annual Report 14/15
The Theatres Trust
Protecting theatres for everyone
T 020 7836 8591
theatrestrust.org.uk
@theatrestrust