The Clothworkers' Foundation

Although 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 membershipnetwork for funders and investors inLondon’s civil society. With a currentmembership of 126 (49 independentfunders, 37 public sector bodies, 12business sector, 6 social investmentorganisations, 4 housing associations,and 18 others), London Funders isfocused on collaboration – conveningfunders to connect, contribute andcooperate together, to help peopleacross London’s communities livebetter lives.

London Funders activities broadlydivide into collaborative projects, inwhich it drives forward work on keyissues 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.

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!

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 finalClothworkers’ Theatre Award. The Clothworkers’ Foundation will now commission an independent external evaluation of the £1.25m proactive Dramatic Arts initiative, which includes the Theatre Award, as well as major grants to leading drama schools – including Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and National Youth Theatre – for bursaries to students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The findings of the evaluation will help The Foundation decide whether the Dramatic Arts initiative should be extended.

The Foundation was recently informed that Charlotte Law, who benefitted from bursaries made to The National Youth Theatre in 2016, has been cast as Shelley for In Basildon, which will run 14-30 March.

Read more about the Dramatic Arts initiative and other Proactive initiatives on The Foundation’s new website: www.clothworkersfoundation.org.uk.

We’re excited to announce that The Clothworkers’ Foundation website has been redesigned and is now available at a brand new URL. To explore, please visit: www.clothworkersfoundation.org.uk