The Watermill has just announced that it has been successful in two capital funding bids, enabling the Bagnor theatre to continue to protect and conserve its unique site, as well as make vital improvements to accessibility and environmental sustainability.
The Watermill will receive £118,842 from Arts Council England, thanks to its government funded Capital Investment Programme, as announced today (Wednesday). This funding will support improving accessibility and wheelchair access, increasing auditorium capacity, and ensuring a more comfortable audience experience. The theatre will also use this capital funding to replace its studio floor, purchase a second long-range electric van and install six electric car chargers for use by staff, creatives and visitors.
A £5,000 grant from Theatres Trust Small Grants Programme will contribute to the replacement of an exterior staircase, providing access to dressing rooms, and emergency access for audiences. The existing staircase has become weathered and worn and is at the end of its life.
Theatres Trust director Jon Morgan said: “Theatres Trust is delighted to support this unique and well-respected theatre with a project that will enable the Watermill to continue to produce high quality work. This is exactly the type of project that our Small Grants Programme with The Linbury Trust was designed to fund.”
The funding provided by these two organisations will allow The Watermill to take further steps towards increasing accessibility – improving access by installing hearing loops across the site and purchasing open captioning equipment, as well as reconfiguring wheelchair positions in the auditorium to facilitate a more independent booking process, and a better customer experience.
This support will also facilitate ongoing work to conserve and improve the unique setting of the Watermill – replacing worn infrastructure and taking steps to reduce the theatre’s carbon footprint by purchasing an electric van and installing car charging points for use by staff, volunteers and visitors.
The Watermill’s executive director Claire Murray said: “The development and upkeep of our historic buildings and beautiful site is of paramount importance, and we are delighted that these two grants will help us to make vital improvements to The Watermill. Thanks to the funding from Arts Council, England we will be able to improve accessibility across all of our buildings and reduce our carbon emissions.
“Meanwhile, The Theatres Trust grant will help towards the replacement of a staircase that is an integral feature of our beautiful converted watermill.”
Hazel Edwards, South East Area Director, Arts Council England, said, “Through this Capital Investment Programme, we are bolstering cultural investment in communities throughout the East of England / South East. By enhancing the infrastructure of cultural spaces across the region we are expanding access to arts, culture, and creative pursuits. We are also supporting cultural organisations in becoming more inclusive, reducing their carbon footprint, and enhancing their digital capabilities. We are delighted that together, we can nurture a more vibrant and accessible cultural landscape for all.”
THE WATERMILL THEATRE
The Watermill Theatre is The Stage’s Theatre of the Year 2024, a title it jointly holds with The National Theatre. In November 2022 Arts Council England cut The Watermill’s National Portfolio funding – equating to a loss of £460k a year. The Theatre, now an independent charity without any statutory funding, went on to produce eight shows in 2023, including the award winning The Lord of the Rings, its most ambitious production to date, which saw it welcome 17,000 people through its doors, 47 per cent of whom were first time bookers.
The Watermill Theatre, a converted Grade II listed rural watermill nestled on the banks of the river Lambourn, is a unique producing powerhouse of residential and artistic facilities which provide a crucible for creativity, innovative storytelling and artistic excellence. The Watermill’s work is characterised by an enduring pursuit of artistic innovation and the weaving of actor-musicianship through new writing and reinvigorated classics. They tell stories that reflect and celebrate diverse lived experiences, create the environment for actors and creatives to take risks, and connect annual audiences of 60,000 with live theatre that truly resonates.
With a core belief in the transformative power of the arts, The Watermill Theatre open opportunities for people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, young families and isolated or displaced communities to explore their own creativity. Their engagement programmes reach 20,000 people each year in the theatre, schools and other community settings. The theatre engages with those who are underrepresented, hard to reach, or at risk and drives long term impact for its communities.
Reaching far beyond the 200 seats in its auditorium, The Watermill’s productions regularly transfer to the West End or tour nationally and internationally. Over the last five years, half of its productions have had a further life beyond The Watermill including The Lord of the Rings, Bleak Expectations, SPIKE, Amelie the Musical, and Crazy for You. The Watermill’s central ethos is to commission, discover and amplify new voices to create work that excites audiences now and will become part of the theatrical canon in the future.
Website: watermill.org.uk
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
www.artscouncil.org.uk
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. From 2023 to 2026 we will invest over £467m of public money from Government and an estimated £250 million from The National Lottery each year to help support the sector and to deliver this vision.
THEATRES TRUST
Website: http://www.theatrestrust.org.uk/smallgrants
Theatres Trust is the national advice and advocacy body for the UK’s theatres supporting all forms of theatres, whether old or new, commercial, subsidised or community-run. We protect theatres and champion the future of live performance by advising and supporting our nation’s theatres to develop best practice in design and management following the four principles of resilience, environmental sustainability, inclusivity and placemaking.
The Small Grants Programme was launched in 2021 with the generous support of The Linbury Trust, which renewed its funding in 2022 for a further three years. The scheme has received additional support from The Mackintosh Foundation and Charles Michael Holloway Charitable Trust.
