Theatre awarded £5,000 grant to help update its lighting

A grant of £5,000 has been given to the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds from Theatres Trust Small Grants Programme awards which is set to help update the lighting at the venue.

One of 13 theatres to be supported from around the UK, projects funded in this round of grants focus on improving theatres’ accessibility and sustainability as well as urgent repairs and maintenance works that are essential to ongoing viability.

For the theatre in the town the grant will allow them to replace all existing downlighters with LED alternatives that meet current safety standards. This will have a big impact on their environmental sustainability.

The first year of the Small Grants Programme has been made possible thanks to the support of the Linbury Trust, as well as donations from Judy Craymer CBE and Charles Michael Holloway Charitable Trust.

The Linbury Trust has committed to funding the scheme for a further three years, with funding totalling £300,000.

Jon Morgan, director of Theatres Trust, said: “After the pandemic there is a real desire across the theatre sector to ‘build back better’, to improve accessibility and sustainability and widen reach into communities. Theatres also need to recover from the serous impact of the pandemic on their own operations and support from grant schemes like this are vital in helping them on the road to recovery.

“Theatres Trust is hugely grateful to the Linbury Trust for committing to a further three years of funding, which will allow us to provide targeted support where it will have the biggest impact.” 

Stuart Hobley, director of the Linbury Trust, added: “Congratulations to all the theatres across the UK who will be using these grants to make their spaces more accessible, sustainable and welcoming. We’re thrilled to continue our partnership with Theatres Trust. Theatres play such an important role in local economies and, as we emerge from the long shadow of Covid, this funding will support vital improvements to help welcome back audiences, and for neighbourhood theatres to shine.”

And Owen Calvert-Lyons, the Theatre Royal artistic director, said: “We are delighted to be a recipient of this funding, helping to maintain this beautiful building and to ensure our theatre, and the huge range of work that we do here and in the community, is accessible to all, and helps us to achieve our environmental sustainability aspirations”.