The theatre producer has confirmed further support from his foundation to the Theatre Artists Fund.
The producer of Les Miserables and Mary Poppins has today announced that he has provided a further £500,000 worth of support from his foundation to the Theatre Artists Fund, following on from an initial £500,000 grant given by the Mackintosh Foundation to the fund earlier in the pandemic.
Explaining about the decision to provide more support, Cameron Mackintosh said: “Though the Government’s exemplary vaccine programme has shown that there is now light at the end of the tunnel, the probability is that it will still be over seven months before the West End has the majority of its major shows back. This latest grant from my Foundation, a year after our industry was closed down, will hopefully help some of our hard-hit freelancers
to get through until we can employ them again, provided there are no further shutdowns
which would be catastrophic.
“My theatre and production companies have also during this last year supported hundreds of
jobs throughout the closure of our theatres and productions, to ensure that our historic
buildings and world-renowned productions are ready to come back, as soon as we have a
permanent instruction from the Government to do so.
“The resilience and spirit of everyone working in the theatre during this gruelling time has
been quite inspirational, as has the amazing patience and enthusiastic support of the public
who continue to book seats, demonstrating that they can’t wait to come back to live theatre
as soon as they can.”
The Theatre Artists Fund was set up last July by director Sam Mendes and the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre to offer financial support to the freelancers who make up an estimated 70% of the theatre sector, many of whom have received no Government support.
Sam Mendes, director and co-founder of the Theatre Artists Fund, said: “We are immensely grateful to the Mackintosh Foundation for this extraordinarily generous contribution. Throughout the process of setting up the Theatre Artists Fund, we have been consistently moved by the feeling that the theatre community is pulling together to support and protect its most vulnerable members, and this is a wonderful example of exactly that.’
The latest round of Theatre Artists Fund grant applications is currently open until 30 March.
Eligible freelancers in need can apply for an individual grant of £1000 to help pay bills and
put food on the table. Full details of eligibility and how to apply are
available at theatreartists.fund.