The Tyne Theatre and Opera House has been awarded £500k as part of Creative Central NCL, a project funded by the North East Combined Authority and Newcastle City Council to develop creativity and culture in the city.
The funding will allow the venue to embark on enabling works for a development project to create a black box performance space in its Grand Saloon and new café/bar area.
The new stage will be adaptable and able to serve as a space for meetings, rehearsals and workshops.
Project Director David Wilmore said: “These enabling works are a crucial step forward in the journey to securing the future of this significant heritage venue.
"The progress made by this project will allow us to lay the foundations for continued development when the Tyne Theatre & Opera House will create a significant number of new jobs.”
CEO Jonathan Higgins thanked the theatre's audiences for their support: "The income generated from ticket sales, hospitality, donations and our Friends Club membership scheme has also played a crucial role in allowing us to fund this project," he said.
"We look forward to being able to welcome even more people through the doors to our new café bar this autumn and to reopening the re-envisioned black box space for the benefit of audiences and the local community.”
Creative Central NCL will grant £1.7m of funding from 2022 - 2027 to projects in the city centre. It is one of three Cultural and Creative Zones in the region funded by the North East Combined Authority.