The Stage

BBC announces funding for amateur musical theatre

Published Tuesday 10 August 2010 at 13:57 by Matthew Hemley

Amateur performance groups will have the chance to apply for a slice of £200,000 funding under a new scheme to be launched by the BBC, aimed at encouraging young people to take part in musical theatre.

The Young People’s Musical Theatre Scheme will start this September and is being provided through the Performing Arts Fund, which receives revenue from the phone votes of shows such as I’d Do Anything and this year’s Over the Rainbow.

Individual grants of up to £5,000, from a total of £200,000, will be on offer to non-professional theatre groups that are either made up entirely of members under the age of 25 or which have a youth section and are involved in musical theatre productions. The money will be available to groups which are looking to invest in training and development opportunities or experiment with ways of attracting new members or audiences.

This scheme is the first from the fund to target amateur theatre companies, and follows on from last year’s Choral Ambition, which was aimed at providing grants to choirs from around the UK.

It will run alongside the annual Training in Musical Theatre scheme, which provides financial aid to students undertaking a musical theatre course and has this year awarded £150,000 to students.

BBC Performing Arts Fund manager Miriam O’Keeffe told The Stage the money could be used by companies looking to do “something more ambitious than they would normally do”, such as bringing in a choreographer to work on a production, hiring a live band or sending some members off on training courses.

She said the grants are aimed at theatre companies where members are under 25 and already stage musicals, but said a theatre company wanting to try out musical theatre for the first time would also be considered.

“Because our funding primarily comes from musical theatre shows we want to reflect that back to the sector,” she said.

The BBC is working with the Media Trust, the Voluntary Arts Network and the National Operatic and Dramatic Association on the project. NODA chief executive Tony Gibbs said he wanted the scheme to encourage amateur theatre groups to “develop innovative proposals for projects which would not otherwise be possible”.

He said NODA would support groups by helping them develop ideas for suitable projects and added: “Many amateur theatre groups lack the resources and skills to provide training and development opportunities for young people. The support of the BBC Performing Arts Fund comes at a much needed time for amateur theatre, with many groups facing the challenges of how to attract audiences, get more young people involved at all levels and addressing the various financial issues which have been exacerbated by the current economic climate.”

The scheme, full details of which have yet to be announced, will launch on September 27, with theatre groups having until the end of November to apply.