Paines Plough Receives Grant from Arts Council's Strategic Touring Programme

Paines Plough have received a grant of £784,052 from the Arts Council's Strategic Touring Programme to enable the formation of partnerships inBarnsley,Margate, Lincoln, Kendal, Cornwall, Stoke-on-Trent and Salford to deliver annual festivals of new work in Roundabout from 2016 to 2018.

Artistic Directors of Paines Plough, James Grieve and George Perrin said today, "We are indebted to Arts Council England for the belief and support evidenced by this investment from the Strategic Touring Programme. This enables us to further realise the potential of Roundabout to offer people across the UK access to the best new theatre. We look forward to working with key partners including Margate Theatre Royal, Lincoln Performing Arts Centre and Brewery Arts Centre Kendal to invite local people to curate and take part in festivals of new work in Roundabout in their home towns."

Joyce Wilson, Area Director, London, Arts Council England, said, "The Arts Council's ambition is to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to experience great art and Paines Plough's Roundabout is a great example of how we are working to achieve this through our Strategic touring programme. This pop-up theatre will give audiences an exciting new way to engage with high quality writing that features performances by local artists right on their doorstep. Paines Plough's collaborative approach to commissioning these new plays alongside the host venues will ensure local audiences are at the heart of this work."

These partnerships will realise the ambitions of Paines Plough's Roundabout take high quality new writing to venues across the UK. In each venue, Roundabout will become a creative hub - incorporating programming from both Paines Plough and the host venue to tailor each to the community it serves.

Craig Morrow, Artistic Director, Lincoln Performing Arts Centre said, "Roundabout provides a unique context for the presentation of the best in touring new plays - capturing our audiences' imaginations and encouraging greater engagement with contemporary theatre. Furthermore, the ability to show self-produced work alongside the touring rep enables us to offer exposure to local artists that wouldn't normally be able to form part of such an innovative and critically acclaimed programme."

Pam Hardiman, Programme Manager, Theatre Royal Margate commented, "Ever since I first saw the Roundabout prototype in Shoreditch Town Hall in 2012, I had wanted to bring this wonderful pop up theatre, complete with exceptional productions, to Margate. Amazingly, Paines Plough and I made this happen in 2014, and now this autumn we will welcome Roundabout back, with the security to plan together for the next 3 years. This is very, very good news for Margate."

Mike Jones, Executive Director, Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal added, "I'm delighted that the Paines Plough have been successful in their strategic touring funding bid. New writing is a key part of the Brewery programme and it's crucial that companies like Paine Plough are able to tour the quality work that they produce to venues like ours."