Second Stage Receives Grant From Goldsmiths' Foundation To Provide Training

Second Stage has received a grant from the Goldsmiths' Foundation who awards £628,000 to support organisations and projects focused on craft and hand skills. This grant will help Second Stage continue to provide training, offer theatre industry experience and future employment in live events to those leaving the criminal justice system. This grant will be used specifically for training in HMPs Isis, Brixton, Hollesley and Bronzefield.

Second Stage is a partnership between prison leavers and the UK theatre and live events industries. It offers workshops, mentoring and transferable skills from trades including carpentry, electrics and sewing. With reoffending rates currently costing the country £26.3 billion, theatre can play a vital role in reducing those rates as well as fulfilling two of the Government's important missions – kickstarting economic growth and breaking down barriers to opportunity.

The Goldsmiths Foundation funds organisations and projects that focus on vocational skills and training, working at the intersection of creativity and social change. In this round of funding, Second Stage joins 16 other organisations and charities who have awarded a grant to support endangered craft skills across seven craft types. The projects equip people with exceptional skills, either in silversmithing, jewellery, or the wider creative industries in alignment with our newly launched five-year strategy – which sets out a vision for a thriving creative ecosystem fuelled by skills, where traditional craft, manufacturing excellence and technical innovation create exceptional opportunities for the next generation of makers.

Jo Hutchison, Executive Director and co-founding partner of Second Stage said: “We are extremely grateful to Goldsmiths for their generous donation which will support our new Theatre Crafts Training Programme in Set Design & Prop Making, Wigs, Hair & Makeup (WHAM) and Costume Design. We expect the course to lead to employment for 75% of the participants. In turn, we believe this will lead to a reduction in reoffending.”

To learn more about Second Stage or to donate visit www.second-stage.org.