Letters – Community support

From Donna Munday, Chief Executive, Royal & Derngate Theatres
As you may be aware, Royal & Derngate in Northampton has recently faced the threat of a £200,000 funding cut from Northampton Borough Council, representing one-third of the total amount that the theatre receives from the Borough. This would have resulted in immediate insolvency for the company and we would have had to close the doors (having only opened four months ago following a £15m redevelopment). We have just heard that the County Council will step in for the next financial year and give the theatres the £200,000 shortfall in funding. This is fantastic news  it takes away the immediate threat of closure that we were facing and it gives us the time to work with other partners to secure funding for future years. We know that we are not the only theatre that is facing these kinds of threats at the moment and we have been very fortunate that the outcome has been so positive for us. We are hugely grateful for the way that the arts community has rallied in our support and would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to all of the people who took the time to support us.