Why support Frantic Assembly?

"Frantic Assembly have been rewriting the rulebook for almost three decades". The Times

Since 1994 Frantic Assembly has been making theatre accessible; breaking down barriers to access, engagement and participation and providing opportunities for young people to discover and develop careers in the arts.

We are proud of the way Frantic Assembly seeks out meaningful connections with audiences, artists, students and teachers. Collaboration, communication and connection is vital to creativity and mutual inspiration, and this is as true now as it was 30 years ago.

These are difficult times and many of us are facing challenges, but if you are able to consider supporting Frantic Assembly by making a donation, no matter what the size, you would be helping make a huge difference. It will help us to plan ahead and ensure we can continue to make thrilling theatre and create vital opportunities to develop young talent and empower young people through our Learn and Train work and initiatives like Ignition.

What do we do?

We create thrilling theatre, working with some of the most exciting artists in the world. Since 2022 our productions of Othello and Metamorphosis have toured extensively across the UK reaching a combined audience of over 100,000 people. Since 1994 we have created 30 shows, including the iconic Beautiful Burnout, Lovesong and Things I Know to True, and provided the movement direction for the National Theatre’sThe Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night Time, establishing Frantic Assembly as one of the country’s best loved theatre companies.

Every year, Frantic Assembly conducts 800+ hours of workshops, supporting at least 9,000 GCSE and A Level students in their study of the Frantic Method and understanding of our particular approach to devising. Frantic Assembly Studio, our digital subscription platform for schools provides 24/7 access to over 21 hours of teaching materials designed to support students and teachers in the study of contemporary theatre-making.

Our public training courses engage 100’s of artists, practitioners and teachers around the world who wish to develop their skills in devising and collaborative theatre making.

Ignition, our FREE, nationwide talent development programme for young people aged 18 – 24, has engaged over 10,000 people since 2009. Each year we actively seek out young people from across the UK, who may not know that a career in the arts is possible, and select 24 to take part in an intensive training programme. Ignition is transformational, showing young people the creativity they possess and providing inspiration and aspiration. Many of our Ignition graduates have gone on to successful careers in the creative industries as actors, directors, choreographers, composers, filmmakers, practitioners and teachers.

How do we fund what we do?

Frantic Assembly is funded by Arts Council England as a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO). We receive £225,250 a year core NPO funding from Arts Council England, which represents, on average 21% of our annual turnover. The other 79% is derived from raised or earned income from our charitable objectives; our productions, workshops and residencies. Of that, only 1% currently comes from raised or donated income.

In our last fiscal year (2022/23), 23% of expenditure was on staff costs, 10% on overheads and governance and 67% on charitable activities including our touring production, our workshops and residencies and Ignition.

As a result of the pandemic we have seen a near 50% reduction in our reserves. Our NPO funding is at the same level it was in 2020, which represents a real time reduction, and we are unable to significantly increase our earned income on the work we undertake. This increasingly puts a strain on our ability to fund the activity we once did or anything additional.

This is why we are looking to increase our raised income totals through a combination of Trust and Foundation grants and individual donations.

Which is where you can help!

All donations received would be used in the following three areas, to help support this sort of work:

PARTICIPATION

Support participation projects including Ignition, our FREE to access, nationwide talent development programme that opens the creative door to over 800 young people every year. Ignition costs £75k a year to deliver.

Offer free bursary places on our train programmes to those from underrepresented and / or economic-disadvantaged backgrounds.

Provide on-going engagement, mentoring and vocational training opportunities to our Ignition alumni.

STAGE

Support the research and development process of our stage work and productions.

Support the development of young and emerging artists, creatives and producers, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds.

Support our national touring; taking our celebrated productions to more venues and areas of least arts engagement.

DIGITAL

Provide FREE resources via Frantic Digital, to help demystify the creative process and enable audiences to go behind the scenes.

Support students and teachers through the creation of FREE resources packs, providing comprehensive insights into the Frantic Method and how we make shows.

Support the capture of stage shows on film, to allow greater access to the work and to enhance the study and teaching of Frantic’s shows.

How can you help us do it?

As we step into the 30th year of our incredible journey so far, we hope you will consider joining us by supporting the work we do. Please consider making a regular monthly donation of £30 or whatever you can afford, or a one-off donation of your desired amount, to help us support the growth of the next generation of theatre-makers.

£30 enables a young person, with little or no previous experience or access to the arts to take part in a free Ignition Taster workshop in their home region.

£100 pays for a bursary place on our Introductory Training Course, enabling an artist from an underrepresented or disadvantaged background to explore their creativity.

£250 enables us to produce a resource pack and provide to schools for FREE, to accompany a touring production.

£500 would pay for up to two schools (or 48 students) to receive a 2hr workshop in the Frantic Method of devising theatre, in support of their course work study or production visit.

£1,500 enables one young person to participate in the weeklong Ignition intensive in London. (This covers all of their training, pastoral support, travel, food and accommodation for the week, thereby removing any financial barriers to participation).

£75,000 - the cost of running our nationwide Ignition training programme over the course of a year.

If you are interested in making a substantial donation to support Ignition or any other aspect of our work, please contact Kerry Whelan, Executive Director on [email protected]