ACE launches The Regional Touring Network with £800k grant

A regional touring network has been established to “produce and tour high quality drama on the mid-scale” to audiences across England, with a one-off funding award of £826,786 from Arts Council England. The network, which will be coordinated by English Touring Theatre, involves nine regional venues and intends to “deliver a legacy of sustainable touring”.

Rachel Tackley, Director of English Touring Theatre, said: “It is clear that there is an appetite for brilliant and ambitious mid-scale work in regional theatres which is currently not being filled. This is a great opportunity for English Touring Theatre to work with these nine venues and make a real impact on theatregoing opportunities for a broad range of audiences across the country.”

The Regional Touring Network will commence in autumn 2016. The three-year project intends to tour both classic and contemporary work, experiment with new ways for venues and touring companies to work together, and to grow and sustain demand for regional theatre.

Elspeth McBain of Lighthouse, Poole, expressed her organisation’s readiness to engage with the project: “Our drama programme is the absolute bedrock of our theatre programme and we are committed to ensuring that the productions and companies we present represent high quality, relevant work that audiences engage with and are inspired by.”

The other eight venues involved are: Oldham Coliseum, Exeter’s Northcott Theatre, Cast in Doncaster, Warwick Arts Centre, Cheltenham’s Everyman Theatre, Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield, Harrogate Theatre and the Queen’s Theatre in Barnstaple.