GrantRadar

Royal Victoria Hall Foundation

Royal Victoria Hall Foundation grants

Grants, normally of £250 to £2,000, for smaller-scale professional theatre productions in Greater London. The Foundation aims to help professional productions that need financial support and to bring high-quality live performance to people who are not regular theatregoers. It makes 20 to 30 grants a year across two rounds, with deadlines on the last working Friday of February and of August. The Foundation is funded from the proceeds of the 1982 sale of The Old Vic.

Apply on the funder’s site
You could get
£250 – £2,000
Deadline
131 days left
26 February
Effort
Moderate
full application with documents

Who can apply

  • Theatre companies, not individuals, whose production takes place in Greater London and which already have a venue booked
  • The company does not have to be registered, but it must have a bank account in its own name and must provide accounts for its latest full financial year showing a detailed breakdown of income, expenditure and balance sheet
  • The accounts need not be audited but must be signed off by the head of the company, and ideally checked by an independent person such as an accountant
  • This rules out companies just starting out
  • Each company should have its own independent management structure and artistic director, and grantees should be UK tax resident; any company with overseas tax residency must tell the Clerk before applying

What it funds

  • Professional theatre productions of at least six performances in the Greater London area, not counting previews or public dress rehearsals
  • The February deadline (April meeting) covers projects happening between May and October, and the August deadline (October meeting) covers projects between November and April
  • Applicants must state the exact amount they are asking for

What it will not fund

  • Projects that relate only to music, such as a song or a musical recital
  • Dance that is not in a theatrical context
  • Projects wholly about drama training, education or the academic study of dramatic performance
  • Research and development work
  • Amateur dramatic projects
  • Administrative running costs of an organisation
  • Individuals seeking funds for personal tuition
  • Productions of fewer than six performances (previews and public dress rehearsals do not count)
  • A production the Foundation has already funded, such as a later run
  • Retrospective grants: the project must take place after the April or October meeting
  • Projects planned more than six months after the application deadline

an organisation awarded a grant cannot apply again for two years

multiple applications from one organisation under different company names are not accepted

How to apply

  1. Check the project meets the Criteria for Grants, including at least six London professional performances
  2. Download the standard grant application form from the How to Apply page
  3. Complete the form and save it as a Word document
  4. Email it with the required attachments (not download links) to contact@rvhf.org to arrive by 5.30pm on the last working Friday of February (April meeting) or of August (October meeting)

incomplete applications are returned automatically, and the list closes as soon as the deadline passes

after acknowledgement, a trustee reviews the application, may contact you to discuss it, and reports to the full board

if the content, dates or venue change substantially after a grant is paid, the money must be refunded

Have ready

  • Completed application form as a Word document
  • Company name and contact details
  • Project budget
  • Accounts for the past full financial year
  • CVs of the main creative team

supporting material such as reviews of earlier work or publicity flyers is welcome but optional

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Royal Victoria Hall Foundation grants — Royal Victoria Hall Foundation — GrantRadar