Northern Ballet awarded £600,000 for digital projects

Leeds-based performance company Northern Ballet has been awarded £600,000 following a successful application to Garfield Weston Foundation’s competitive Weston Culture Fund.

The grant will be used primarily to finance the capture of the company’s new full-length ballet Merlin, and a brand-new children’s ballet, both set to première this autumn.

It will also significantly increase Northern Ballet’s digital output so the company may continue to reach audiences until it is able to return to normal touring activities.

The Weston Culture Fund received more than £128m worth of applications for the total £25m one-off fund.

The fund was opened to applications from arts organisations to help restart important work, refresh activities and develop plans to rebuild audiences in the devastating wake of Covid-19 cancellations and closures in the sector.

Northern Ballet creates and distributes digital dance films and is now reaching over 3.4m people a year via cinema, TV and online distribution channels.

This work has meant it can reach and engage audiences during the pandemic whilst most touring activity is cancelled.

Mark Skipper, chief executive of Northern Ballet, said: “We are incredibly grateful to the Weston Culture Fund for awarding us this game-changing grant and for their continued confidence in the excellence of our performances on stage and screen.

“We have firm plans to return to touring this spring and autumn, and this grant will complement this activity and enable us to reach significantly more audiences so we may continue to break down barriers to dance and ensure ballet is accessible to everyone, everywhere.”

Philippa Charles, director of the Garfield Weston Foundation, said: “Our cultural sector is at the heart of our local communities providing not only entertainment but education and inspiration to many.

“Our trustees were impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit shown across the arts in response to Covid-19 and it was a privilege to hear what organisations have been doing not only to survive, but also to reinvent the way they reach audiences.

“What really stood out was the level of collaboration and support they had for each other and the determination to keep going, despite the increasingly difficult situation.

“Arts organisations are desperate to re-open and get back to what they do best, and we hope that this new funding will help many of them do exactly that.”