Plymouth’s Barbican Theatre has been awarded a grant of £135,550 to help them face the continuing challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and to ensure they have a sustainable future, supporting local young and emerging artists and providing income for freelance artists and practitioners in the area.
Barbican Theatre is one of a number of cultural and creative organisations across the country receiving part of more than £30 million of investment from the Garfield Weston Foundation.
The fund was created by the Weston family in response to the devastating impact of COVID-19, and is supporting a diverse range of organisations from museums to regional theatres and national touring ballet companies. Grants range from £100,000 up to £1.5 million based on the size of the organisation.
Garfield Weston Foundation director Philippa Charles said:
“Our cultural sector is at the heart of our local communities providing not only entertainment but education and inspiration for many. Our Trustees were impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit shown across the arts in response to COVID-19 and it was a privilege to hear what organisations had been doing to not only survive but also to reinvent the way they reach audiences. What really stood out was the level of collaboration and support they had for each other and the determination to keep going, despite the increasingly difficult situation.
“We all want and need our cultural sector to thrive and, if anything, our time away from the arts has shown just how important they are to us – bringing much needed pleasure and enrichment to our lives. Arts organisations are desperate to re-open and get back to what they do best, and we hope that this new funding will help many of them do exactly that.”
Barbican Theatre is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) and a registered charity established in 1980. We are an inclusive organisation and get excited about people creating and enjoying theatre, dance, culture and live entertainment on stage and in unusual spaces.
Barbican Theatre chief executive, Laura Kriefman said:
“This vital funding will allow us to continue our extensive work across Plymouth: helping us build people’s creative voices.
“We are relieved to be successful and are looking forward to continuing to create extraordinary work with the community and artists in Plymouth and the UK.”
Barbican Theatre will be concentrating on creating pay-what-you-can site specific events around Plymouth – taking creativity and culture to communities directly, whilst people cannot go to the theatre. From live music and dance, to giant puppets and comedy.
The Barbican Theatre adapted to the first lockdown by taking performances out into the community.
For example, the popular monthly Café Acoustica was moved to Teats Hill Amphitheatre in Coxside. Held on the last Friday of the month this brought live music, dance and spoken word to the local community in a safe and secure way offering entertainment and performance opportunities to emerging artists in the city.
During the third lockdown the theatre used YouTube Live Stream to stream their January ‘Wassail and Warmth’ event, which was watched live by more than 290 people, with a further 300 watching the recording. The funding will enable the live streaming of open air events to continue throughout 2021 and beyond.
It will also ensure Barbican Theatrecan continue to run successfully re-designed talent development work, which was relaunched in September 2020 with 16 classes for 12-25 year olds, adaptable for online teaching during lockdown.
A total of 119 places have been taken by participants ages 12-25 in subjects such as Character and Stage Combat, Online Stories, Comedy Sketches, Composing & Choreography and Acoustic Performance.
Classes cost £60 for an entire year and participants can attend as many sessions a week as they want. Introducing more classes has enabled Barbican Theatre to offer increased employment for freelancers across Plymouth and increases the quality of training available for 12-25s.
The funding will enable further site specific productions to take place, with the Barbican team currently working on a summer 2021 spectacle in a unique Plymouth space, offering paid employment to more than 60 local creatives.
Barbican Theatre was facing a reduction in turnover in the region of £425,000 in the 2020/21 financial year, so this grant is vital in enabling it to continue its work and support people to gain employment in the arts.
For updates on Barbican Theatre activity, events and opportunities please visit the website barbicantheatre.co.uk or follow them on social media channels: Instagram: @Barbican_Theatre; Facebook: Barbican Theatre Plymouth; Twitter: @BarbicanTheatre; Youtube: BarbicanTheatrePlym
