Hubbub Theatre Company has been awarded £81,051 as part of the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) to help face the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and to ensure they have a sustainable future, the Culture Secretary has announced today.

Hubbub Theatre Company is one of 588 cultural and creative organisations across the country receiving urgently needed support – with £76 million of investment announced today. This follows £257 million awarded earlier in the week to 1,385 organisations, also from the Culture Recovery Fund grants programme being administered by Arts Council England on behalf of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Further rounds of funding in the cultural and heritage sector are due to be announced over the coming weeks.

Artistic Director Jen Sumner said:

“Hubbub are delighted and relieved to have received this financial support to continue our work with our learning disabled actors and community. ‘Hubbub At Home’ has proven to be a vital source of connection in these challenging times where many disabled people are shielding and isolated. It was described by one carer as ‘a little miracle’.

As well as supporting wellbeing, we continue to develop the skills of our actors. (We believe that wellbeing is the bedrock of good work and strive to offer support for everyone in the company). We will develop a blended approach to our delivery as Government guidelines allow, mixing our successful Zoom delivery with small group returns to Deda as feels safe physically and emotionally for our community. This fund allows us to go at the pace we need to be mindful, kind, supportive and truly listen to what our community needs and respond accordingly.

We also continue to engage with national allies Separate Doors and Creative Minds to ensure that learning disabled and neuro-divergent creatives are not left behind in UK arts and culture. We are part of the #WeShallNotBeRemoved network.

We are very excited that we will also be exploring adapting our work, performance, rehearsal and workshops for outdoors and all the possibilities this brings. We will be engaging diverse communities in co-creation and participation throughout this process.

We will also continue to diversify our company at all levels and bring learning disabled leadership to the fore, right up to Board level. This fund allows us to plan and prepare for the way forward, with our excellent, hard working and committed team in place and our freelancers in regular work. We are extremely grateful. We also could not have come through this time and to this point without the support of our community of carers, families, friends and supporters. Thank you”

Chair of the Board of Trustees for Hubbub Theatre Company, Clare Limb said:

“The company has shown itself to be enormously resilient through the Covid-19 Crisis and for that I, on behalf of the Hubbub Theatre Company Board of Trustees, am extremely proud. Models of delivery have shifted seamlessly between online, blended and in person engagement, through such initiatives as Hubbub at Home, The Summer Festival of Learning and Dancing on Your Doorstep; retaining current members throughout and gaining new participants in the process. The Culture Recovery Fund grant provides much-needed funds to support Hubbub’s ambitious journey towards reaching more learning-disabled people in more diverse communities through the company’s various artistic activities from now to April 2021 and beyond.”

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said:

“This is more vital funding to protect cultural gems across the country, save jobs and prepare the arts to bounce back. Through Arts Council England we are delivering the biggest ever investment in the arts in record time. Hundreds of millions of pounds are already making their way to thousands of organisations.

“These awards build on our commitment to be here for culture in every part of the country.”

Chair, Arts Council England, Sir Nicholas Serota, said:

“Culture is an essential part of life across the country, helping to support people’s wellbeing through creativity and self-expression, bringing communities together, and fuelling our world class creative industries. 

“This latest set of awards from the Culture Recovery Fund builds on those announced recently and will help hundreds of organisations to survive the next few months, ensuring that the cultural sector can bounce back after the crisis.  We will continue doing everything we can to support artists and cultural and creative organisations, with further funding to be announced in the coming weeks.”