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£100,000 fund will bring theatre to the people
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Leisure centres, sports halls and school halls in towns and villages across Wales will soon be staging quality drama thanks to a £100,000 fund announced today by Culture Minister Alun Pugh.
Clwyd Theatr Cymru’s mobile theatre is to receive a one-off grant from the Welsh Assembly Government to run a touring community theatre this year.
The mobile theatre has not been able to tour for two years after its commercial sponsorship ran out.
Transported on two, 40-foot, articulated lorries, the mobile theatre is suitable for small venues that would not normally be able to host major productions.
The funding is designed to bring theatre into new communities and within reach of more people in Wales, said Alun Pugh.
"Many communities in Wales are missing out on the chance to enjoy good quality drama because they are too far away from the main theatres making it difficult and expensive to travel to them. This is particularly true of the most deprived communities in Wales.
"This is an exciting and innovative project which will take a first-class product to areas which would normally not have access to top quality theatre.
"Clwyd Theatr Cymru, under its Director Terry Hands, has a well-deserved and international reputation for producing top quality, accessible drama and the mobile theatre will draw on the experience and reputation of the company."
The grant for Clwyd Theatr Cymru will be funded from the first phase of the Arts Outside Cardiff scheme which the Culture Minister announced last autumn. This Assembly Government scheme aims to take performance theatre to smaller, non-traditional venues such as community centres and village halls, particularly in disadvantaged Communities First areas.
Clwyd Theatr Cymru’s touring theatre will becomes the focus for a week’s activities for an entire community, including education and outreach work, workshops with actors and directors talks.
It will encourage the community to get involved in rigging the structure, hosting the theatre company, attending workshops, rehearsals and performances and taking part in the education programme attached to each production.
Details of the mobile theatre’s tour programme will be announced at a later date. It is expected that the Assembly Government grant will enable the theatre to complete 20 performances.
Notes:
1. The mobile theatre is a discrete arm of Clwyd Theatr Cymru. It is not funded from the mainstream grant of £1.4 million which the theatre receives from the Arts Council of Wales for its production work and as a presenting venue.
2. The main source of funding for the mobile theatre was commercial sponsorship, which was discontinued two years ago. The mobile theatre has not been able to tour for two years. Among places visited on previous tours are Pillgwenly in Newport, Bridgend Recreation Centre, Plas Arthur Leisure Centre Llangefni and Connah’s Quay Sports Centre. Some 3,850 people attended the 2002 mobile tour of "To Kill a MockingBird" and 1,639 young people participated in the mobile tour education programme 2002.
3. Alun Pugh announced the Arts outside Cardiff scheme on 1 October 2003. A total of £250,000 is available for the scheme in 2004-05, rising to £1 million in 2005-06 and to £2 million in 2006-07. The funds will be used for two types of activity - supporting productions for small-scale venues across Wales and taking micro-performance to smaller and non-traditional venues such as community centres particularly in Communities First areas. The Arts Council of Wales is drawing up procedures for allocating funds for supporting productions at mid-scale venues.
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Saturday, March 20, 2004 |
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