A theatre company putting on performances from a shop front in Coventry could fold after it was told all of its funding is to be cut. 
Theatre Absolute – which has been running in the city for 20 years – moved into an empty store on the City Arcade in 2009.
The Arts Council has today confirmed it will receive no funding from them from April 2012, and will get a winddown payment to try to help them secure their future over the next year.
Artistic Director Chris O’Connell said the news is a blow for the city: “We’ve worked in school, and pupil referral units and youth groups and we’ve been living and making our work here for 20 years.
“This is a sacrifice that is hard to take because this is a brand new thing for the city and people have responded brilliant to it and we’ve built an audience in the just over 14 months we’ve been there.”
Elsewhere, the city’s Belgrade Theatre will receive 15 per cent less than what it gets now for the three years from 2012, whilst Warwick Arts Centre’s funding is down by 11 per cent, with the Royal Shakespeare Company losing out by 15 per cent.
Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 7:05 pm