Ayr’s Gaiety Theatre is hoping to bring something to the stage for everyone after being awarded funding from Creative Scotland.
More than £600,000 of funding will support the theatre over the next three years as they continue to bring musical theatre, panto, guest speakers and tribute acts to Ayrshire.
Executive director Janice Gilmour was delighted with the news that they had once again been included in Creative Scotland’s multi-year funding portfolio after missing out for a few years.
Speaking exclusively to Ayrshire Live, Janice said the funding would “make a real difference” and allow them to increase their own portfolio of shows.
She said: “The funding from Creative Scotland is for a three year period starting in April this year through to April 2028. It will give us a real foundation to continue the good work we have done and hopefully expand that.
“We didn’t quite get as much as we had asked for but it is certainly enough to really make a difference. The Gaiety will continue to do its normal shows but this gives us some money to continue with our rural touring work and enhance that.
“Those that are potentially isolated or can’t get into the town for whatever reason can have shows into their local communities.
“We go everywhere from small communities like Barr, up the way to Fairlie and down to Girvan. We go all over and we try to swap it around so that every community that has got the desire to have it and a hall big enough for us to perform in we take it to.
“The funding really will make a difference. It will make a difference within the theatre. We will be more of a mixed programme but we will still have the favourites – the tribute acts and the musical theatre etc – but we will be able to do some more drama, dance and some more challenging work. Hopefully, there will be something for everyone.”
After previously losing out on Creative Scotland grants, The Gaiety had some tough times but support from the South Ayrshire Council and the backing of regular audiences allowed them to work towards a position to reapply.
Janiced added: “We were a regular funded organisation before but that was a number of years ago. That got cut and that really hit the Gaiety really hard at that point. We were lucky to still have the support of South Ayrshire Council so that we could continue the work.
“We have been building up the work that we have done to put ourselves in a position to go for this funding again. We brought the panto in house and did it ourselves and we have been involved in co-productions.
“We have been putting ourselves in the right position over the last few years to gain this funding. It has been a lot of hard work – never mind the application form itself.”
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