West Yorkshire Playhouse gets £6.6m for major revamp

PLANS can now move forward to renovate and expand the West Yorkshire Playhouse after Arts Council England granted it £6.6m towards a £14m regeneration project.

The 25 year-old building will be renovated with a new entrance facing Leeds city centre, improved access and better technical equipment, as well as a studio theatre space.

The Playhouse’s project partner, Leeds City Council, has already contributed £4.9m towards overall project costs.

A fundraising campaign will be launched to fulfil the £14m full target, as Leeds prepares to apply to become the European Capital of Culture in 2023.

If the Playhouse’s Stage Two applications prove successful, construction work will begin on site in the second half of 2017, with completion in late 2018.

Executive director at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Robin Hawkes said: “This is the best possible news with which to start the New Year.

“We hadn’t been expecting an announcement from the Arts Council until the end of February, so receiving it now enables us to get things moving earlier than anticipated. We will accelerate our work with our partners at Leeds City Council to appoint an architect and to start getting plans in place.”

Leader of Leeds City Council, Councillor Judith Blake, said: “We’re absolutely delighted that the Arts Council is supporting our joint application for a project that will completely transform one of Leeds’s most cherished cultural institutions.

“The theatre already provides a host activities both on-stage, in the building and in our communities and these proposals will also help to bolster that excellent work still further as the city builds towards submitting an application to be European Capital of culture in 2023.”