PRESS RELEASE FROM EXETER NORTHCOTT -
EXETER NORTHCOTT SAVED
This morning the Board of Exeter Northcott received a letter from Arts Council South West which confirmed that the theatre would receive full funding for the current year, and that similar funding had been ringfenced for the following two years.
This announcement follows an intensive month long campaign by Exeter Northcott and its supporters to reverse the Arts Council's proposal to withdraw all funding from the organisation in 2009. This action would inevitably have led to closure.
The letter was read to the staff of Exeter Northcott and representatives of its other stakeholders - Exeter City Council, Devon County Council and the University of Exeter - by the Chair of the theatre's board Stephen Gratton. The news was greeted with huge sighs of relief and big smiles all round. But the champagne corks won't be popping just yet as the theatre's Board, management and staff get down to the business of working with the Arts Council to develop and demonstrate Exeter Northcott's true potential as a centre of excellence and a cultural catalyst in Devon and beyond.
Clarie Middleton, Acting Chief Executive of Exeter Northcott said: "The staff, board and stakeholders of Exeter Northcott are delighted with today's news. We would like to thank everyone locally, regionally and nationally who supported us throughout our campaign to reverse the Arts Council's proposal to withdraw all funding from the theatre next year. We felt sure that we had made the best possible case why this shouldn't happen. Arts Council South West said it would listen. Today's announcement shows that it did listen. Now we are looking to the future: to working together with the Arts Council and our other stakeholders, and to making Exeter Northcott an even more exciting centre of artistic excellence, innovation and community involvement."
In the meantime it is very much business as usual at Exeter Northcott, with a full programme of professional and community productions on offer. Highlights include the UK Premiere of Tennessee William's last play The Notebook of Trigorin, his passionate adaptation of Chekhov's The Seagull. This production will be staged by Exeter Northcott's own professional theatre company from 15 February - 1 March, and stars Mary Tamm. Also coming soon from 4 - 8 March is the touring stage production of Anne Cassidy's award-winning novel for teenagers Looking For JJ which features stars from Hollyoaks and Grange Hill. More information and tickets are available from the theatre' new website at
www.exeternorthcott.co.uk
This website was set up in December 2007 as a response to the news that the Arts Council was threatening to withdraw funding from the Exeter Northcott. This highly-regarded Devon theatre has been producing work of a consistently high quality for 40 years, with excellent box office figures and has only just completed a major refurbishment (part-funded by the Arts Council).
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