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Sunday 10 March 2024 10:09 am
Sofi Berenger, Govt Producer and Acting CEO of the King’s Head Theatre, on how the 2024 budget announcement was a “colossal obtain” for London theatre
On Sixth March, the announcement of the recent permanent increase to Theatre Tax Reduction (TTR) felt admire a colossal obtain for the theatre trade. All via the 2024 budget announcement, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced that the Theatre Tax Reduction rates were to be raised to Forty five% for touring and 40% for non-touring expenditure.
This felt admire a crucial signal of toughen for the sector, and comes at a time the place other funding avenues are squeezed. Artists are battling to obtain sustainable, future-proof gadgets to compete with rising costs without the willingness for worth costs to increase with it. The announcement helps shows across the sector – regional, West Finish, small-scale, touring – which contributed an estimated £11.5bn towards the national economy and 67,000 jobs in 2022.
The tax relief rates provide a lifeline for fringe and mid-scale theatre producers to obtain necessary subsidy they want, supporting one among the most significant talent feeders into the UK’s world-class actors, writers, administrators and creatives across the film, television and performing arts.
Nobody making work on this scale is walking away with significant profits. Almost always, the worth of creating work vastly outweighs the potential return it can make from worth sales
Small to mid-scale theatres don’t have the same commercial potential as our West Finish counterparts, whether because of shorter runs or smaller seating capacities or both. Nobody making work on this scale is walking away with significant profits. Almost always, the worth of creating work vastly outweighs the potential return it can make from worth sales – after all it doesn’t matter in case you’re a 100 seat theatre or 1,000 seat theatre you proceed to want writers, administrators, production managers, designers, performers.
This means small-mid scale artists rely on finding subsidy and other funding avenues. For a lot of artists this feeble to mean Arts Council England – which has been topic to heavy governmental cuts nationwide but specifically in London since the pandemic. The chancellor’s permanent decision to increase the TTR rates affords a buffer against these costs, making many shows viable – no longer to make any extra or much less revenue, but simply to break even, which is usually the principal goal of most small-mid scale producers.
In a landscape the place funding from central executive is at a drastic low, this is a necessary step to make certain the future of the trade. The King’s Head Theatre, and theatres admire ours, has started the careers of loads world-famend talent since 1970 – Hugh Grant had his professional debut with us, and the likes of Celia Imrie, Maureen Lipman, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Alan Rickman, Richard E Grant and Victoria Wood all cut their tooth on our stage sooner than world-huge fame.
Venues admire ours are how we develop talent in the UK. Small-mid scale theatres (beneath 300 seats) are the place shows admire Six, The Play That Goes Mistaken, Operation Mincemeat and even Rocky Anxiety Image Advise were developed and premiered.
Venues admire ours are how we develop talent in the UK. Small-mid scale theatres (beneath 300 seats) are the place shows admire Six, The Play That Goes Mistaken, Operation Mincemeat and even Rocky Anxiety Image Advise were developed and premiered. Discovering a sustainable financial model which can proceed this work secures no longer accurate our immediate safety, but our prolonged interval of time future as a cultural leader. This isn’t to say that TTR is the greatest way for small and mid-scale producers to recoup a fragment of their costs. There are, and have always been, other varieties of funding and subsidy – which, cuts aside, usually require prolonged, time racy and complicated application varieties, judged by panels and gatekeepers.
For many artists earlier in their career, this requires resources, information and expertise which takes years to develop. Furthermore, a significant amount of funding for producers and artists out of doorways of Arts Council England requires a charity number – another prolonged and costly course of – which instantly excludes a significant amount of emerging artists or small-mid scale producers.
TTR is an fully unbiased obtain of funding. It is available to claim against pre-production costs to any production which is flee via a Ltd Company (a 15 min course of, £12, and processed in 24 hours), and which submits a corporation tax return – at a mounted and now reliable rate. In a political landscape the place the arts usually receive colossal and ongoing cuts to funding, the chancellor’s decision is a welcome relief to many of us working across the sector.
The 2024 budget has given us a lifeline – no longer accurate to large West Finish producers, or the ample establishments, but to every production, at every scale. Small to mid-scale theatres, after fringe and arts festivals, are a first port-of-call for brand spanking recent writing and recent producers and production companies. They are a vital stepping stone for career impart and vogue in our sector and create many opportunities for those both on and off stage. We feel very distinct about this original announcement and gaze forward to seeing the impact it has on the theatre trade as a complete.
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