How to apply for a tw! theatre or touring company grant
Before you apply, discover if your theatre or touring company is eligible for theatre works! funding and understand our application process.
About our grants
Our grants are designed to support the educational outreach work of theatres, touring companies and productions to enable them to make their live theatre experiences more accessible to children and young people aged 7-16.
We fund theatre tickets, transport and related educational activities such as post-show Q&A sessions, workshops and backstage tours to enable schools to experience live performance more fully.
We support a range of projects within theatres, school settings and local venues. We support professional productions and live theatre experiences in a range of forms, for example, your production and outreach work could be a school tour exploring safeguarding themes through forum theatre, a straight play in a local venue or a musical in a regional theatre. We are keen to support live theatre experiences that embeds education themes and skills into the experience and that reach children and young people who haven’t accessed theatre before.
Depending on your organisation, you’ll either use the tw! grant towards visiting schools with your production or inviting schools to your venue. Funds can be used for established relationships with schools or to generate new ones.
What organisations can apply?
We welcome applications from:
✔ Professional theatres/theatre companies with or without a fixed venue.
✔ Touring companies performing in schools directly or venues from community centres and village halls to regional theatres.
✔ Production companies/Independent Producers
All productions need to be professional (paid cast/crew) to be eligible.
Theatres/Touring Companies and Productions can apply for a grant of up to £5000. We do not expect to pay more than £15 per theatre ticket and request applicants provide education rate tickets.
When to apply
We have three application windows every year.
Theatres, Touring Companies and Productions can apply once a year.
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Applications open on Monday 12 January.
Applications close Friday 27 February.
This applies to performances requested for up 12 months ahead from 1 April 2026 onwards.
Applicants will receive a notification with the outcome of their application in mid-March 2026.
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Applications open on Monday 11 May.
Applications close Friday26 June.
This applies to performances for up 12 months ahead from 1 August 2026 onwards.
Applicants will receive a notification with the outcome of their application in mid-July 2026.
Window 3
Applications open on Monday 14 September.
Applications close Friday 23 October.
This applies to performances for up 12 months ahead from 1 January 2027 onwards.
Applicants will receive a notification with the outcome of their application in mid-November 2026.
Eligibility Criteria
Your organisation will need to choose schools to support that meet the below criteria.
The school(s) you work with must have the following:
At least 40% Pupil Premium/Free School Meals (or regional equivalent).
As an organisation you will choose schools to visit with your touring production or invite to your venue to see your production. Schools with a minimum of 40% Pupil Premium/Free School Meals (or regional equivalent e.g SIMD) are eligible for support. We check applications against the latest available published government figures.
We will also take into account the percentage of students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), where appropriate, when considering grant applications that already meet our core economic disadvantage threshold.
You may find it useful to check the eligibility of the schools you would like to work with by reviewing these websites or datasets ahead of making an application.
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Visit this link to check the free school meals percentage of schools in England.
https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Search?SelectedTab=Establishments
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Visit these links to check the Free School Meal information for schools in Scotland.
Primary Schools - https://scotland.shinyapps.io/sg-primary_school_information_dashboard/
Secondary schools - https://scotland.shinyapps.io/sg-secondary_school_information_dashboard/
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Visit this link to check the free school meals information for schools in Wales.
https://stats.gov.wales/en-GB/327c8825-dc08-475b-b8bf-1aaa479c553c
There is also a figure for those eligible for free school meals or transitionally protected. 'Transitionally protected' refers to families who are migrating to Universal Credit which can affect entitlement to free school meals. Dataset in CSV format can be downloaded from here.
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There are excel sheets containing the data on Northern Ireland based schools.
Primary Schools: https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2025-04/School%20level%20-%20primary%20schools%20-%20SUPPRESSED%202425%20DATA%20REVISED%20APR_0.xlsx
2. Be located outside of the M25
In England, we support schools based outside of the M25, we also support schools in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
If your organisation is based in London or within the M25, you can still apply, as long as the children you support come from schools outside of the M25. Your organisation doesn’t need to have a fixed theatre venue to apply, touring companies that visit other venues or schools are eligible.
An education element is essential
Applications must include an education-related experience. You could embed any of the following within your theatre experience e.g backstage tours of theatres, a workshop or a post-show Q&A with the cast & company where at least two backstage technical team take part (e.g. Sound Technician, Stage Manager). You may also share our education resources and modules in our Education Hub to the schools you work with.
Grant recipients will be asked to provide full feedback in the Student Impact Evaluation Form as to which education experiences you provided and how students responded to them.
What productions are eligible?
Eligible productions
We support applications for professional productions only for example; straight plays, musicals, forum theatre, pantomimes and live performance tours to schools exploring safeguarding themes. We do not offer grants towards, dance, choir or opera productions.
If the production is specifically curriculum-related (e.g Macbeth where the play text is studied for GCSE English Literature), we will only fund places for the students in receipt of Pupil Premium/Free School Meals.
Seeing different types of productions
We like to support projects that reach a large number of children. Touring companies can be an excellent way to expose a larger audience to the theatre especially if they visit schools or regional venues.
We want children and young people to be exposed to a broad spectrum of plays. When you apply for grants over time, we encourage you to explore a range of genres and formats.
What to expect from the application process & beyond
1. Read the eligibility criteria
Once you have read and understood the eligibility criteria and feel you meet the basic criteria for applying, it’s time to fill out an application form.
If you have any questions, contact us.
2. Review the timings of the application window
We have three application windows per year. See full details of each window here.
Please ensure your performance falls on or after the applicable start-date for your specific window. It will not be possible to apply outside of these windows.
3. Fill out the application
Complete the form and submit it during the application window. You can save the form and return to it later.
Once you’ve submitted your form, you will receive an automatic confirmation of submission via email. (Do check your junk).
Please do not book any tickets or travel ahead of your grant being approved, any arrangements should be provisional.
4. Application review stage
Your application will then be reviewed by our grants team and independent reviewer, following the close of the application window you’ll receive your application outcome via email, see specific application dates for timeframes.
If your grant is approved, the outcome email will include the amount of funding we will provide.
If your grant is unsuccessful you can apply again in the future.
5. If your grant is successful
Once you’ve accepted the offer you’ll receive a follow up email with an overview of the next steps including information on booking your trip, the Student Impact Evaluation Form and when we pay your grant to you. We suggest reserving tickets and transport at this point.
We’ll keep you updated every step of the way. 8 weeks before your requested performance date we will send a request by email for your organisation to invoice theatre works! for 80% of your grant. We’ll pay you (the applicant) directly. You can then use the funds to pay for any activity you have arranged as part of the application.
6. The theatre trip & evaluation
Have a wonderful performance and share it with us via our social channels. You can also visit our Education Hub to enhance the educational impact of your theatre trip with our resources.
Following your trip we ask that the applicant completes an Student Impact Evaluation Form which collates feedback quotes from the children attending the theatre experience, it’s essential for measuring our impact.
If the evaluation is satisfactory, then the remaining 20% balance will be paid. If balancing invoices are not submitted within 60 days of the performance date, we will withdraw our grant for the outstanding 20% amount.
Important Information for UK Theatres, Touring Companies & Productions
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£5000. This can be used towards tickets, transport and additional educational activities for local schools.
We do not pay for programmes and refreshments.
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Every year, however, the funding must support different schools to the previous application. The same school cannot benefit consecutively, two years in a row.
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Yes, if your production is professional and you are bringing performances into eligible schools or regional partner venues that meet our criteria, you are welcome to apply. Grants can support tickets, transport, and educational activities for those schools.
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London Theatres can apply for grants to enable schools to visit, but the schools supported must be based outside of the M25 and meet our eligibility criteria.
We want young people to have the opportunity to experience the thrill of big London shows as well as the productions at regional theatres across the country. We aim to limit London theatre grants to approximately 15% of our offering.
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The requested performance date must be on or after the applicable grant application window performance date. We give grants up to 12 months from this date.
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A curriculum-based play refers to a play where there is a direct link between what students are studying in school and what they will be attending at the theatre.
For example, if students are studying Hamlet as a text in class and will be attending a theatre performance of Hamlet, that would be a ‘curriculum-based’ play and in this case we only pay for Pupil Premium students.
Sharing PSHE themes, safeguarding themes or indirect associations to the curriculum wouldn’t be classified as curriculum-based.
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Unfortunately, we can’t support every application we receive due to available funds.
We want to support grants that deliver the most impact to children and young people.
We want to see where an effort is made to provide related educational experiences. These efforts may be as simple as a teacher devoting some pre- and post-classroom time to discussing the impact of the play. We also encourage signing up for Q&A sessions where these are available.
Please specify in your application what efforts you will make to ensure a wide range of children from underserved communities benefit from this programme.
Preference will be given to applications that show the school has implemented plans to reach out to children who may not have had the opportunity to attend theatre performances in the past.
However, make every effort not to single out Pupil Premium students.
We are keen to consider local needs and gaps in arts access. We may favour rural applicants if the application indicates there is little or no access to cultural activities for children from underserved communities and young people in the area.
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Unfortunately, we are unable to support every grant application due to available funds.
The decision on a grant application is final; we do not engage in discussions on reasons for our decision. However, you may make a subsequent application.
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Feedback from students and teachers is critical to the charity. People who are considering donating to the charity look at the evidence we provide to see if the charity is being effective. Direct feedback from children is critical to our work.
We like direct quotes that talk about what the experience meant to the student. Please don’t simply say that a Child or young person liked the play. Possible feedback questions are provided on the evaluation report. If related workshops or educational materials are created, please tell us about them. We also like to see extracts of written work or pictures students created.
Video footage is welcome including from any workshops or post-event activities. We appreciate that getting parental permission for filming students can be challenging.
Please note that the quality of your feedback (and application) will be taken into account as part of the consideration given to any future applications to theatre works!
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The evaluation form is due to 30 days after the performance.
Consider how you will gather feedback from students if the performance is close to the end of the school term.
See Terms and Conditions for more information.
Apply Now
Now that you’ve read the criteria, you’re ready to complete the application form when the next application window opens.
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Please note that the quality of your feedback (and application) will be taken into account as part of the consideration given to any future applications you may make to theatre works!
You have six months from the date of our approval to your application to claim your grant by submitting your initial 80% invoice.
You must claim the balancing 20% within 60 days of the performance otherwise you will forfeit payment.
You confirm that a written Child Safety Policy equivalent to that adopted by the NSPCC is in place, including a Disclosure and Barring Service or equivalent checks for everyone who will be working with the children.
You confirm that the grant will only be used for the purposes outlined in the application, and any unspent funds will be returned to us.
If false information is provided or funds are used for purposed outside those outlined, we will require repayment of funds.
theatre works! will not accept responsibility for any claims arising from the events for which funding has been agreed.
You agree that we can make public the name of the school(s) or sponsoring organisation that receives a grant from us.
You agree that any information provided to us, including quotes and photos from children and teachers, can be used for the charity’s promotional purposes.