Chicken Shed Theatre faces cuts

Chicken Shed Theatre faces cuts

The Chicken Shed Theatre in north London faces the gravest funding problem in its 30 year history. The Company has announced that after its forthcoming Christmas show it will cease productions for six months and lose 14 posts whilst it recuperates some of the £200,000 deficit faced by lack of funding.

Chicken Shed's Chief Executive, John Bull says: "Our main source of income is trusts and foundations, but because of the current economic climate the money we receive from them is down by 25 per cent. We receive no grants or subsidies and the only other revenue is from individual donations and fundraising. "We must get back into the black so that we can continue to produce shows. "Fourteen posts have been affected, most of them short term contracts, but we will also have to lose four permanent members of staff."

Last year the company was asked to represent the future in the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations. 1000 members of the Children's and Youth Theatre were joined by members of their National Training and Development programme across Britain to perform before the Queen and members of the Royal Family and televised world wide.

John Bull says, "Because of our high-profile support from celebrities and the look of our beautiful theatre, there is an assumption that we are well off. In actual fact we are the only theatre based company in London that does not receive Arts Council funding so for the past 30 years we have had to survive on our own."

Chicken Shed wish to ensure all their supporters, friends and parents that their educational programmes, workshops and outreach work will not be affected by the cuts. And their Christmas show The Night Before Christmas will go ahead as planned 2 Dec 03 to 17 Jan 04. to