Grants
The next meeting of the Trust will take place on Thursday the 26th of April 2012, and grant applications should be with the Secretary by the 26th of March 2012
Please read the Guidance Notes & Conditions of Grant below before applying
application packs can be downloaded at the end of this page
Since 1989, the Trust has awarded over £560,000 in grant aid to projects meeting the criteria
The average grant given in 2011 was between £1,000 and £2,000
Guidance Notes and Conditions of Grant
1. Brief history and traditions of Unity Theatre and the Trust
Unity Theatre grew out of the agitprop street theatre in the East End of London in the early 1930's. Once established in a converted chapel in Kings Cross (built entirely with voluntary labour) Unity became the inspiration for a national upsurge in drama on social and political issues, since it was the only theatre in London throughout the 30's, 40's and early 50's producing plays on these subjects. Alongside shows specially created for Unity, it drew on the repertoire of world theatre, including innovative productions of works by Clifford Odets, Sean O'Casey, Lope de Vega, Jean Paul Sartre and Arthur Adamov. It was the first theatre in England to stage a play by Bertolt Brecht and it helped popularise the plays of Maxim Gorky.
Unity's strength lay with its audience drawn mainly from the trades unions and organised labour movements, but amongst its supporters were many eminent personalities e.g. Bernard Shaw, H.G.Wells, Sybil Thorndike, Beatrix Lehmann and Paul Robeson whose appearance with Unity, followed by international acclaim for the political pantomime Babes in the Wood, marked the peak of the theatre's fame.
With the outbreak of war, Unity was the first theatre to open in London once the ban on public entertainment had been lifted and it maintained a permanent repertory of plays, satirical revues and musicals throughout the five years of hostilities. It also sent out small groups of performers who, often in hazardous conditions, provided valuable shelter and factory entertainment for those winning the war at home.
Unity emerged from the war at the head of a national drama movement that was concerned with the lives of working people. Soon however, many of the developments pioneered by Unity, such as vernacular drama, Living Newspaper and biting satirical shows, were accepted by the theatrical mainstream and television.
Unity Theatre was destroyed by fire in 1975.
Many well-known theatre people - Lionel Bart, Alfie Bass, Michael Gambon, Bob Hoskins, David Kossoff, Warren Mitchell, Bill Owen and Ted Willis among them - learned their skills at this influential theatre which was the working people's most sustained and successful contribution to British drama and one of the most important and enduring initiatives in popular culture this century.
The Trust
Unity Theatre Trust was set up as a charity in the spirit of these traditions. The main objectives of the Trust are to advance the education of the public by fostering, promoting and increasing the interest of people in the art of drama and co-related arts.
2. Grant aid
In the main, the Trust will fund drama and theatre related activities, but in addition, it will also fund projects in film, TV, video, music and dance. The Trustees reserve the right to include other areas if an application merits it, as long as the application falls within the Trust's charitable aims
3. Eligibility
The Trust usually funds projects or activities carried out by organisations. Individuals sponsored by organisations are also eligible to apply for a grant. Applicants are expected to have raised a large proportion of the project’s costs for which they are applying for a grant.
The Trust does not give grants for core funding, i.e. for annual running costs of an organisation, such as rent, telephone, salaries, etc. The Trust also prefers not to be the sole funder of a project but rather the junior partner in such funding.
4. Application forms
A grant request will only be considered on completion of an application form supplied by the Trust.
5. Financial conditions
All successful applicants must keep detailed accounts in relation to the disbursement of the grant received and make these available to the Trust for inspection at all reasonable times. Any unused grant must be returned, unless prior permission has been given by the Trust for any other use. Similarly, if the funded play or event does not go ahead for any reason, the grant must be returned to the Trust".
6. Monitoring
In their efforts to monitor the effectiveness of their grant strategy, the Trustees expect all recipients of grant to inform the Trust of the success or otherwise of the activities for which the grant was given. They also expect to be invited to the performance of plays or events the Trust awards grants to. No grant may be used for any other purpose than that for which it was approved for without the prior permission of the Trust.
7. The charitable aims of the Trust
All applicants, by accepting receipt of any grant, agree not to contravene the charitable aims of the Trust as summarised in the section of this website called "The Theatre" and as restated in the guidance notes supplied with the application form.
All successful applicants will be asked to confirm in writing their agreement as above before any grant is released.
8. Logo
All recipients of grant must acknowledge the support of Unity Theatre Trust by using the Unity Theatre device logo (downloadable at the bottom of this page) and the statement, "SUPPORTED BY UNITY THEATRE TRUST" on all publicity and correspondence. A copy of the programme or other publicity leaflet showing the Trust's Logo should be sent to the Secretary of the Trust.
9. Grant dates
There will usually be FOUR decision dates in any one year, one in each of the following quarters, unless the Trustees deem it necessary to meet outside these dates:
1st Quarter January, February, March2nd Quarter April, May, June
3rd Quarter July, August, September
4th Quarter October, November, December
Applications should be received 30 days prior to the planned Trust meeting.
10. Administration of grants
The grant will be adminstered in the following way;
i. Written confirmation of accepting the Trust's conditions of grant
ii. A final report should be submitted to the Trust by all successful projects.
You can download the application form at the following links
Download our logo here for use in your publicity material as required by our terms & conditions
if you need the Adobe Acrobat PDF reader you can download it here via a new window
