The Stage

Philanthropist Vivien Duffield pledges £8.2 million to arts companies

Published Thursday 24 March 2011 at 11:14 by Natalie Woolman

Vivien Duffield today pledged £8.2 million in grants to 11 arts organisations including the Donmar Warehouse, the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company from the Clore Duffield Foundation.

The grants, which range from £125,000 to £2.5 million, have been awarded to the organisations to set up new creative learning spaces for young people. Since 2000, the Clore Duffield Foundation has given more than £23 million to cultural organisations towards Clore learning spaces.

Duffield said: “We have always had a commitment to children’s education in the culture sector so we are not simply plugging a government hole. We have always done this and I have always considered that it is the duty of philanthropists not to fill in for the government can’t do but to go out and do things that the government hasn’t got the ability to do.

“In other words, we aren’t doing the staple diet, we are proving the icing on the cake.”

The National Theatre will use its £2.5 million grant to create a Clore Learning Centre next to the venue’s Dorfman Theatre, which will see the Cottesloe theatre redeveloped and renamed. The new Duffield Studio and Cottesloe Room will serve as education spaces for both discussion and practical work. The new centre is due to open in 2014, designed by architect Haworth Tompkins.

The Donmar Warehouse has been awarded £500,000 to transform the top floor of its newly acquired rehearsal and office space in Dryden Street into a rehearsal and education space. Haworth Tompkins has also been appointed as the architect on the project and the new building is due to open in 2012.

Nick Giles, executive producer at the Donmar Warehouse, said that the organisation was “enormously grateful” to Duffield and the foundation for the gift.

He added: “The education programme is something that has been very important to Michael [Grandage, artistic director of the Donmar] and has developed and grown significantly during his time here. So it was really crucial to us to be able to continue that and grow it as a programme.”

The Clore Duffield Foundation also pledged £1 million to the RSC for three studios in its newly opened Waterside Space opposite the company’s newly-refurbished venues in Stratford upon Avon.