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Newcastle’s Live Theatre awarded £923,000 arts council Sustain funding

Published Wednesday 28 October 2009 at 15:52 by Lalayn Baluch

Live Theatre in Newcastle has been granted £923,000 to help it through the economic downturn, as part of Arts Council England’s Sustain funding programme.

The cash will be used by the organisation to cover the loss of income from trusts, foundations and sponsorship, to cover the loss of rental income, and to pay for “minor tweaks” to the infrastructure of the building to make it more environmentally friendly.

The money will also help pay for two “key pioneering social enterprises”. This includes the refurbishment of the theatre’s former Cafe Live, which it hopes will become a new eating and drinking establishment that will help to generate annual income.

Live Theatre will also invest £100,000 in a digital scheme to encourage new writing. The online script-writing project will allow aspiring writers from across the world to take part in a playwriting course.

Live Theatre chief executive Jim Beirne said: “We are thrilled that the arts council was able to recognise the innovative ideas put forward as part of our application and decided to offer us a significant investment from the Sustain programme.

“This is an endorsement of Live Theatre as a powerhouse of ideas – innovative and enterprising as well as a producer of arts and education work of the highest quality.”

Sustain is ACE’s £40 million cash pot set up to help cultural organisations combat the effects of the recession.

Mark Robinson, executive director of ACE, North East, said: “Live Theatre is a world class producing theatre. The Sustain award will allow Live Theatre to maintain the quality of their artistic output and address the pressures faced through a reduction of income from fundraising.

“The award will also allow refurbishment works to be carried out at 25b Broad Chare and support the development of new writing through a new digital media business.”

Further Sustain grants are expected to be announced tomorrow.

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