National alliance of regional independent theatres launched in Westminster

Regional independent theatres have launched a new national alliance calling for greater recognition of their operating model within government policy and funding frameworks.

The Regional Independent Theatre Alliance (RITA) was launched at a parliamentary reception in Westminster on 10 June, bringing together five founding members: Birmingham Hippodrome, Leeds Heritage Theatres, Norwich Theatre, Newcastle Theatre Royal and Marlowe Canterbury.

The alliance sets out three core asks to government: formal recognition of the independent not-for-profit model within policy and funding frameworks; the establishment of a regular data-sharing relationship with government to properly measure the sector’s contribution; and a national co-investment strategy for independent theatre.

New data published by RITA claims its founding members collectively generate 2.6 million annual attendances, £83 million in gross income and a projected £781 million five-year economic impact. The alliance also highlights wider economic activity including £52 million in local audience spending, £27 million through supply chains and support for £10 million of Arts Council England-funded touring work through its venues.

The Westminster reception was sponsored by Caroline Dinenage, chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

She said: “This launch is about bringing an awareness of RITA’s Third Way model to Westminster and demonstrating how independent theatres are self-sustaining community pillars. RITA’s members are driving growth across the UK, creating jobs outside of London and powering cultural hotspots. I’m excited for the future of this alliance.”

Stephen Crocker, chief executive and creative director of Norwich Theatre, said RITA was created to provide a collective voice for independent regional theatres and to challenge what he described as a binary perception of the sector.

He said: “RITA has been formed to give independent, not-for-profit regional theatres a shared voice in national policy conversations and to challenge binary perceptions of the sector as ‘subsidised’ or ‘commercial’ by shining a spotlight on ‘the third way’. Norwich Theatre is proud to stand alongside fellow regional independent theatres and make the case for a model that is delivering extraordinary impact for audiences, communities and local economies without reliance on revenue subsidy. Through the launch of RITA and the impact data we are presenting, we are inviting government to recognise a part of the theatre ecology that is critical, but which goes unseen.

“At Norwich Theatre we generate income so that every year we can commit as much resource as possible to playing our fullest role in supporting a thriving local and regional cultural sector and continue to invest in enabling publicly-funded work to come to the East of England and enable a healthy national touring ecology. We are proud of our self-subsidy model and how that allows us to invest in this way but we need our unseen investment and impact to be recognised and matched with government capital co-investment is we are to sustain this into the future.”