Capital Theatres thanks public for its incredible support as crowdfunder more than doubles target
Capital Theatres, which operates Edinburgh’s much-loved King’s Theatre, Festival Theatre and The Studio had asked for donations to help ensure its three city centre theatres can re-open when it is safe to do so, and to ensure continued access to creativity and the arts for the most vulnerable communities during Covid-19.
The charitable trust which runs the venues on behalf of Edinburgh City Council, warned that it is facing a shortfall of around £1 million in its running costs and may not be able to reopen one of the venues as planned in the spring after "falling through the cracks" of emergency funding support.
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Hide AdThe money raised by the appeal will be put to use protecting the core staff of the theatres, maintaining the heritage buildings and preparing for a March re-opening should government restrictions, public safety and science allow.
A series of rewards proved extremely popular with supporters, especially opportunities to get behind the scenes with the tech team at the theatres, enjoy a glass of fizz with Elaine C Smith or a chat about theatre voices with Ian Rankin over zoom, an illustrated limited edition poem about the King’s Theatre by King’s Ambassador Alexander McCall Smith, and the opportunity to appear in the next pantomime.
Fiona Gibson, CEO of Capital Theatres said: “All of us are very humbled by the response from the public to our appeal. We know we still have a long way to go to reopen our doors, but an incredible show of support like this, with wonderful comments and memories shared, clearly demonstrates what our theatres mean to so many.
"It gives us all the passion, energy and determination we need to ensure we survive this crisis through bringing back great shows to our stages when we can and to support our community throughout. A huge thank you to everyone who made this possible with your incredibly generous donations. We can’t wait to welcome you back over our doors when it’s safe for us to do so."
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Hide AdThe trust is currently actively campaigning to receive emergency government funding at the same level as other publicly supported theatres, which would allow the theatres to continue to play a vital part in Edinburgh's year-round thriving arts scene and support the local and national economy.
A petition calling on the Scottish Government to recognise the scale of emergency facing Capital Theatres on Change.org has secured more than 12,500 signatures to date and is still open for those looking to lend their voice to its campaign.
Leading Scottish theatres were awarded up to £750,000 from Creative Scotland last month under a £12.5m fund set up by the Scottish Government.
However organisations and venues which do not have long-term funding deals with the body have been told the maximum they can apply for to the same fund is £250,000.
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Hide AdCapital Theatres had to refund around £2.6m of tickets after being forced to close temporarily in March, along with all other arts venues in Scotland. The cancellation last month of the annual panto at the King's is expected to cost a further £3.4m.