Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Oscar-winner Olivia Colman and producer Francesca Moody (Fleabag) are launching The Theatre Community Fund, which will provide grants to UK theatre professionaâŠ
Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Oscar-winner Olivia Colman and producer Francesca Moody (Fleabag) are launching The Theatre Community Fund, which will provide grants to UK theatre professionals who have been struggling economically during the coronavirus pandemic.
Donors will contribute through initial lump sums and, innovatively, through fixed, confidential percentages of their incomes over the next two years. The fund will be separated into two priority strands giving grants of up to ÂŁ3,000:
To help freelancers survive the present by providing hardship grants to those in immediate need.
To ensure a healthy future for the industry by providing innovation and creation grants for artists to produce work.
Among first donors to the fund, which has amassed ÂŁ1M to date, are Tom Hiddleston, Gillian Anderson, Danny Boyle, Emilia Clarke, Richard Curtis, Kit Harrington, Ian McKellen, Daisy Ridley, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Thompson and Rachel Weisz. Scroll down for the list in full.
The group explained that the fund âreflects its donorsâ recognition that they have benefitted a great deal personally from the health of the UK theatre, and is a statement of their belief that UK theatre â nationally for all audiences and voices and down its grass roots â is vital to the strength of our nation.â
Waller-Bridge, Colman and Moody conceived the fund as a longer-term supplement to other schemes already in existence. It will be dispersed and monitored by The Royal Theatrical Fund (RTF) in partnership with the Fleabag Support Fund (FSF), which has been raising money to help theatre professionals during the pandemic. In May 2020, FSF disseminated its first wave of grants of around ÂŁ83,000.
The founders of the fund said they âwill continue to appeal to all performers, artists, producers and executives â anyone who believes in the theatrical arts and has benefited from them â to contribute to the fund, if in a position to do so.â
Sam Mendes recently set up the Theatre Artists Fund, which launched at the start of July with a ÂŁ500,000 donation from Netflix. It received 4,000 applications in less than a month and provides one-off grants of ÂŁ1,000. The fund has raised more than ÂŁ1.6M to date with contributors including Michaela Coel, Armando Iannucci and Imelda Staunton. ÂŁ85,000 was raised from the public.
Thousands of theatrical freelancers are currently sidelined due to the shutdown of theaters and prospect of re-opening remain uncertain.
The Theatre Community Fund, Founding Donors:
Gillian Anderson Jesse Armstrong Tim Bevan Hugh Bonneville Stephen Boxer Danny Boyle Jim Carter Emilia Clarke James Cordon Stephen Daldry Arthur Darvill Shaun Dooley Anne-Marie Duff Jane Featherstone Eric Fellner Tania Franks Emma Freud and Richard Curtis Romola Garai Rebecca Hall David Hare David Harewood Kit Harrington Jonathan Harvey Keeley Hawes Tom Hiddleston Tom Hollander Tony Hopkirk Suranne Jones Katherine Kelly Robert Lindsay Lucy Lumsden Gugu Mbatha-Raw James McAvoy Matthew McFadyen Ian McKellen, Sean Mathias and ATG Productions from funds raised by Ian McKellen On Stage David Morrissey Josh OâConnor Al Petrie Daniel Radcliffe Daisy Ridley Andrew Scott Imelda Staunton Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar Russell T Davies Emma Thompson Harriet Walter Rachel Weisz Jodie Whittaker and Christian Contreras David Yates
