THE CLOTHWORKERS’ FOUNDATION LONDON FUNDERS
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lthough other regions and countries in the UK have specific needs and face particular disadvantages, in London, their scale and complexity are masked by areas of extreme affluence. Funders need to know about how policy affects the capital and how funding can be developed to meet the diverse needs of London’s communities. London Funders is the membership network for funders and investors in London’s civil society. With a current membership of 126 (49 independent funders, 37 public sector bodies, 12 business sector, 6 social investment organisations, 4 housing associations, and 18 others), London Funders is focused on collaboration – convening funders to connect, contribute and cooperate together, to help people across London’s communities live better lives. London Funders activities broadly divide into collaborative projects, in which it drives forward work on key issues facing London’s communities; events and meetings, at which it brings
together funders from different sectors to learn from one another; and topicspecific network groups. The Clothworkers’ Foundation funding in London Although the remit of The Foundation is UK-wide, around 20 per cent of its grants are currently awarded to organisations working in London, including in the most deprived boroughs such as Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets. Members of London Funders gain useful insight into the funding and public policy climate in London as it brings together policy sector funders, commissioners, independent foundations, corporate investors and lottery funders. The Clothworkers’ Foundation has become a member of London Funders. To date, Foundation staff have attended a series of network meetings on serious youth violence in London with a view to potentially tackling this issue collaboratively with other funders in London, including the Big Lottery Fund. Watch this space for more!
THEATRE AWARD The winner of the Clothworkers’ Theatre Award was announced at the UK Theatre Awards at London’s Guildhall in October. It was won by the Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch, one of nine producing theatres from the East and South East of England invited to compete for the award. The £150,000 award will support Essex on Stage, an ambitious new two-year programme championing positive notions of Essex, celebrating theatre made by working class people and raising aspirations for emerging artists from Essex and Outer East London. The programme aims to commission new plays, establish a network of venues, introduce drama about Essex across Essex for new audiences, organise local events to develop talent, and develop lifechanging projects with communities. The programme will kick off with the regional premiere of David Eldridge’s In Basildon, which has never before been performed professionally in the part of the world featured in its story. On learning that his play was to be staged, David Eldridge said, ‘I am delighted that the first revival of In Basildon is being mounted in Essex at my local theatre ... The Queen’s Theatre occupies a special place in my heart. It is where I did my experience aged 18, and it’s where I was the late Bob Carlton’s Literary Associate for six years, running the theatre’s writers’ groups and advising on new work for the programme. I can’t wait to be back with a play of my own.’ This was the fifth and final Clothworkers’ Theatre Award. The
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THE CLOTHWORKER | SPRING 2019
