Worthing Theatres hit crowdfunding target

In just over seven weeks more than 300 donors contributed to achieving the target for the Save Worthing Theatres and Museum initiative as part of the Theatres Trust nationwide #SaveOurTheatres campaign.

Amanda O’Reilly, CEO, Worthing Theatres and Museum, said: “The national campaign was designed to raise valuable funds to support theatres throughout the country.

“Worthing Theatres and Museum was one of the most recent to sign up for the scheme and set itself an ambitious fundraising target of £10,000. Today, exceeding that target, with over a week remaining WTM have set an additional £2k stretch target so supporters continue to raise more much needed funds for the charity.

“The campaign was supported by an array of theatre, comedy, music and television stars such as singer and songwriter Chesney Hawkes, Strictly Come Dancing Star Ian Waite, A1 boy band star Mark Read, comedians Vikki Stone and Patrick Monahan and Katie Pritchard.

“Our community's response has surpassed all our aspirations. A huge thank you to those who have donated and for their lovely messages of support. They have really inspired the team. “We couldn’t have done this without the generous support of the artists, comedians, musicians and celebrities who gave their time and voice to support the campaign. This financial boost, together with the government support of the Cultural Recovery Fund, means we can begin to look forward and plan WTM’s return bringing our community the programme of arts, film and heritage we know they love.”

Before the third lockdown, WTM had been working hard to reopen their venues step by step and safeguard as many jobs as possible as a priority to ensure the future survival of WTM. With the capacity for socially distanced events at the Connaught Theatre, Connaught Studio, Assembly Hall, Pavilion Theatre and Worthing Museum vastly reducing the charity’s income, WTM reached out to their community towards raising a proportion of the additional £270,000 needed to help WTM recover over the next year. You can view the journey of the charity’s campaign and see the remarkable support and comments from donors on WTM’s crowdfunder page.

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk//wtm