PRESS RELEASE 01 July 2014

Pentabus Theatre Company announces Three Years of Future Funding

Pentabus Theatre Company announcesit has been awarded a further three years of core funding from Arts Council England, successfully securing£561,995 over the next 3 years.Following an open application process, the grant ensures the company will continue to be funded until March 2018.
Artistic Director Elizabeth Freestone said:
‘As the nation’s rural theatre company, we are grateful that Arts Council England has recognized the unique contribution Pentabus makes in creating new plays specifically for and about the rural experience. In the company’s 40th year it is a fitting acknowledgement of both the rich history of our back catalogue and our dynamic plans for the future. With secure funding we can ensure wecontinue to commission the best playwrights and tour our work more widely across the UK, turning up in peoples’ village halls, theatres and digital backyards, connecting audiences nationwide. Not all companies have been as fortunate as us today, and we’re aware some of our partners will be having a rough day. Times continue to be tough for many arts organizations; we’ll continue to support each other as best as we can.’

Chair of the Board of Trustees Alison Vermee said:

‘I am delighted with the news that the company will receive a further three years of funding from Arts Council England. As a registered charity, Pentabus Theatre Company receives a portion of its income from grants from public sources and this provides the bedrock of support from which we fundraise further to support our full programme. Over the next three years the company will tour more widely, ensuring rural communities nationwide have access to the highest quality of theatreand will see the company expand its successful young writer’s scheme across the UK.’

Formed in Shropshire in 1974, Pentabus originally toured new plays to the five counties in the West Midlands, using of course, a bus. Forty years later this cutting edge company continues to stage work that takes a variety of forms, appearing in pubs, caves, village halls, theatres, festivals and fields to reach out and connect with rural audiences nationwide. Pentabus Theatre Company are currently staging 8 new plays by 8 new writers at their Young Writers Festival as part of the Ludlow Fringe 1-5 July, while their touring co-production with Paines Plough, Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan, will play at Summerhall during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this August. In the autumn, Artistic Director Elizabeth Freestone will direct Each Slow Dusk byGeorge Devine award winning playwright Rory Mullarkey, a startling new play about action, humanity, and the legacy of war which will tour village halls across England on a 30 date nationwide tour.

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Note to Editors:

PENTABUS THEATRE COMPANY

Pentabus produces original plays about the rural world forlocal and national audiences. Based on a farm in Shropshire, they make a real commitment to the creative health of the countryside. They’re passionate about rural creativity: challenging artists to work in new ways and offering rural communities opportunities to engage with playful, political and compassionate theatre. They then take these plays on the road, touring around the country, telling stories that are born locally, but resonate nationally. Whether delivering powerful work in theatres, fields, village halls or pubs, they are unique in our ambitious far reaching theatre about, informed by and made for rural audiences. Led by Artistic Director Elizabeth Freestone,recent productions includeMilkedby Simon Longman, a black comedy about rural youth unemployment,In This Placeby Frances Brett and Lydia Adetunji, a site specific audio theatre experience in the Shropshire Hills,Blue Skyby Clare Bayley, about the role small airports play in extraordinary rendition, andFor Onceby Tim Price, a shattering family drama about rural car crashes.

In 2014 Pentabus turned 40. Over the past 4 decades they’ve produced in excess of 150 shows, reached hundreds of thousands of audience members, won a prestigious South Bank Show award for White Open Spaces, their show about racism, a Fringe First for Strawberry Fields by Alecky Blythe, their play about climate change and had one of their latest productions, Milked by Simon Longman, live streamed by the Royal Court.

ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND

Arts Council England champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people's lives.They support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries - from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections.Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2011 and 2015, they have invested £1.4 billion of public money from government and an estimated £1 billion from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country. Government funding is received from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Arts Council England have announced today that their investment in NPOs for 2015/16 will be£339.5 million, compared to £341.4m in 2014/15. The Major Partner Museum budget has increased to £22.6 million in 2015/16 from £21.5 million. The new National Portfolio will consistof670 arts organisations(NPOs) and21 Major Partner Museums(MPMs). 46 arts organisations will join the portfolio and 58 leave. 5 new museums are added to the portfolio ensuring a wider geographic spread.

Press contact: Daniel Pursey, , 020 3195 6269