Bike Shed Theatre awarded Clore Prize Fund

The Bike Shed Theatre is delighted to announce that it has received a major award from the Clore Prize Fund, at a prestigious ceremony in London’s Natural History Museum on Tuesday 4th November. The £50,000 award follows the theatre’s recent success in being added to the Arts Council England’s National Portfolio - and will be used to support the next generation of emerging South West and beyond theatre companies to develop and produce nationally recognised work.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Clore Duffield Foundation, a total prize fund of £500,000 was made available. The Bike Shed Theatre was selected as one of eight innovative projects, and acknowledging its potential to develop and empower a new generation of artists and significantly contribute to cultural development.

Clore Fellow, and Executive Director of Bristol Old, Vic Emma Stenning, has generously given her time to the Bike Shed Theatre over the last year as Chair of the board – and played a vital role in securing the funding.

Emma said, “The cultural impact of The Bike Shed Theatre in the four years since it opened has been impressive. Despite being a small 60-seat, local theatre they have expansive, national ambition. Being the Executive Director of Bristol Old Vic, the UK’s longest continuously running theatre, it is important to pay it forward and support the comparatively new arrivals to the Arts scene. I have no doubt that with this sort of endorsement The Bike Shed Theatre will also be around for many years to come.”

Just as Emma Stenning has generously volunteered her time and insight, The Bike Shed Theatre will now be in a position to reinvest and amplify her energy by supporting a new wave of South West based performing artists. “Generosity breeds generosity” said Sue Hoyle, Director of the Clore Leadership Programme at the foundation’s award ceremony in central London last night -The South West’s Arts sector is certainly a shining example of this.

Over the next two years The Bike Shed Theatre has committed to putting the £50,000 worth of funding towards working with emerging theatre companies to present their work, and develop new material which can be tested as work-in-progress before an informed audience. In addition to this, the benefiting companies will also profit from the theatre’s mentoring, producing skills, and their developing network.

Charlie Parker, Executive Director of The Bike Shed Theatre commented,“We feel humbled and grateful to be selected as a recipient of such an esteemed body as the Clore Prize Fund. Being recognised in this way means we have an immensely exciting opportunity ahead of us. Emma Stenning is a great inspiration. We foresee this having a huge impact. We cannot thank the Clore Duffield Foundation enough.”

The Bike Shed Theatre has a packed programme of upcoming work and looks forward to their most ambitious Christmas production to date, Edgar and the Land of Lost. This original story is a co-production by The Bike Shed Theatre and Bristol based Wardrobe Ensemble. Tickets can be purchased here: www.bikeshedtheatre.co.uk/whats-on/edgar-and-the-land-of-lost/