NK Theatre Arts to receive £34,160 from third round of the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund

• NK are among 925 recipients to benefit from the latest round of awards from the Culture Recovery Fund

• This award will support The Forum Theatre and the lost income it is anticipating until the end of January 2022

More than £100 million has been awarded to hundreds of cultural organisations across the country including NK Theatre Arts in the latest round of support from the Culture Recovery Fund, the Culture Secretary announced today.

NK Theatre Arts is an all-inclusive Charity offering music, dance and drama training to children, young people and adults of various abilities and disabilities and from any status or culture. They also operate The Forum Theatre, a community theatre in Stockport which reached pre pandemic annual visitor levels of 50,000 and supports dozens of organisations from the borough who use the facilities for their own events and cultural activities throughout the year.

With theatres still in their infancy when it comes to presenting live performances once again, the support will help pay for some of the core costs which would traditionally be met by a thriving festive period and help the theatre remain sustainable into the New Year.

The third round of funding will support organisations from all corners of the sector as they deal with ongoing reopening challenges, ensuring they can thrive in better times ahead.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said:

“Culture is for everyone and should therefore be accessible to everyone, no matter who they are and where they’re from.

“Through unprecedented government financial support, the Culture Recovery Fund is supporting arts and cultural organisations so they can continue to bring culture to communities the length and breadth of the country, supporting jobs, boosting local economies and inspiring people.”

Over £1.2 billion has already been awarded from the unprecedented Culture Recovery Fund, supporting around 5000 individual organisations and sites across the country ranging from local museums to West End theatres, grassroots music venues to festivals, and organisations in the cultural and heritage supply-chains.

Darren Stannage, Company Manager of NK Theatre Arts said:

“Everyone at The Forum Theatre has been striving over the last few years to improve facilities, increase our artistic offering and play a key role for culture in Stockport. So many people from the borough belong to dozens of organisations for whom The Forum Theatre is their home. It’s a place they come to present and take part in some of the most diverse pieces of theatre imaginable which is representative of our borough: “The place that makes itself”.

This award will help us bridge the gap in terms of the funding we are not able to self generate this Christmas. Theatres face reduced programming and attendance at a time which is normally thriving for the industry and we are no different. We are extremely grateful for the continued support through the Cultural Recovery Fund. Our theatre simply may not have survived without it.”

Darren Henley, Chief Executive, Arts Council England, said:

“This continued investment from the Government on an unprecedented scale means our theatres, galleries, music venues, museums and arts centres can carry on playing their part in bringing visitors back to our high streets, helping to drive economic growth, boosting community pride and promoting good health. It’s a massive vote of confidence in the role our cultural organisations play in helping us all to lead happier lives”.

Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. We have set out our strategic vision in Let’s Create  that by 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where everyone of us has access to a remarkable range of high quality cultural experiences. We invest public money from Government and The National Lottery to help support the sector and to deliver this vision. www.artscouncil.org.uk.

Following the Covid-19 crisis, the Arts Council developed a £160 million Emergency Response Package, with nearly 90% coming from the National Lottery, for organisations and individuals needing support. We are also one of the bodies administering the Government’s unprecedented Culture Recovery Funds. Find out more at www.artscouncil.org.uk/covid19.