Capital Theatres, Scotland’s largest theatre charity, has received £168,000 to support its three venues – Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre, King’s Theatre and The Studio.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund has stepped in to help maintain the buildings and support staff at a time of great financial uncertainty.
According to Capital Theatres, at least 90 per cent of revenue is generated from ticket sales and trading income, so the sudden closure of its three venues in March meant an immediate loss of substantial income.
To date Capital Theatres has refunded 52,900 tickets with a value of over £2.5m.
In July, it was announced the King Theatre’s long-running pantomime will be postponed until 2021, resulting in a further £2.3 million loss of income.
Now, Capital Theatres has received £168,000 National Lottery support to help address the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on its heritage properties.
Kate Smith, Director of Development at Capital Theatres said: “Capital Theatres, Scotland’s largest theatre charity, is responsible for the Festival Theatre, King’s Theatre and the Studio.
“When we closed our venues in March due to Covid-19 we saw a 90% reduction in our income from loss of ticket sales.
“This vital funding from the Heritage Emergency Fund will help maintain our buildings in a safe condition.
“On behalf of everyone at Capital Theatres we would like to thank National Lottery Players.”
The funding, awarded through The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Heritage Emergency Fund, was part of £50million made available to provide emergency funding for those most in need across the heritage sector.
The UK-wide fund aimed to address both immediate emergency actions and help organisations to start thinking about recovery.
The substantial sum of money is set to go towards covering essential costs such as electricity, gas, IT, insurance and maintenance of the theatres whilst closed.
It will also go towards a small element of staff salaries for those who are responsible for ensuring the venues are secure and maintained whilst closed.
The funds will also aid plans to adapt the venues for a safe reopening when allowed to do so.
We wanted to say a big THANK YOU to #NationalLottery players for making it possible for organisations like ours to receive funding from The Heritage Emergency Fund to support our theatres through their closure.#ThanksToYou @HeritageFundSCO @HeritageFundUK @TNLUK pic.twitter.com/h0xmSUBq58
— Capital Theatres, Edinburgh (@captheatres) August 26, 2020
Capital Theatres is currently campaigning to receive emergency support to the same level as other publicly supported theatres which would allow the charity to play its part in the renewal solution for Edinburgh and Scotland.
Beyond its 3 key venues the organisation provides local community health and wellbeing benefits through an extensive programme currently adapted to run virtually, delivers a key element of Edinburgh’s year-round cultural offer for local citizens and retains 230 jobs in the city’s cultural sector Ros Kerslake, Chief Executive of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “Heritage has an essential role to play in making communities better places to live, supporting economic regeneration and benefiting our personal wellbeing.
“All of these things are going to be even more important as we emerge from this current crisis.
“Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players we are pleased to be able to lend our support to organisations such as Capital Theatres during this uncertain time.”
As well as Capital Theatres, other charities and organisations across the UK impacted by the coronavirus outbreak are being given access to a comprehensive package of support of up to £600 million of repurposed money from The National Lottery.
The money will be distributed across the arts, community, charity, heritage, education, environment and sports sectors.
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