King George's Hall is part of a national initiative launched by Theatres Trust to prevent the permanent closure of hundreds of UK theatres.
2020 was meant to be an exciting year of planning and delving into our heritage in the lead up to our 100th centenary celebrations. We were excited to be continuing an upward trend of high profile acts with more of you coming through our doors than ever before. Then Covid-19 hit and with no warning, we closed our doors, never even considering that they would remain shut six months later. Our entire industry is fighting to survive so your support in any way would mean the world to us. You can donate, purchase one of our rewards, tell all your friends about us and the campaign, and you can even set up your own fundraising page to support us. Whatever you can give to help us reach our goal could make all the difference to us.
Why are we crowdfunding?
King George’s Hall risks permanent closure because over 80% of our income comes from events; ticket sales, bar sales and room hires. With the doors closed, we are not able to generate enough income to cover our overheads, despite reduced costs whilst we are not able to open as normal. Social distancing creates financial gaps as well as physical ones. With no date of when social distancing restrictions will be lifted, we have had to take the difficult decision to postpone previously announced events leaving us in a continuing fight for survival. We typically need at least 75% of seats sold for a show to be financially viable. Social distancing will reduce our capacity to 30%, dramatically reducing our ability to earn the income needed to keep on going.
Your kind donations will be used to help cover the following immediate costs:
- Maintenance work – we’ve been using the time to cover that infamous pink and repair upholstery but there’s more to do
- Artist fees - so many talented people have seen their livelihoods decimated by this pandemic. We want to pay them fairly to do their jobs when we may not to be able to welcome enough of you into our rooms to do that
About King George's Hall
King George’s Hall has been a focal point of Lancashire’s Cultural Landscape for nearly 100 years. Built as a public hall, the venue has been entertaining and supporting the community through the good times and the bad. We are grateful that Covid-19 didn’t see use returning to war time field hospital days but those conversations were had in the early stages of our current situation. Beyond being a community resource, we are at the heart of creativity and entertainment in the town. Whether its pantomime or corporate events, rock gigs or comic conventions, Club Tropicana or Sing Together, we have given you fond memories and we want to give you many more.
About Save Our Theatres
In villages, towns and cities across the country, theatres are at the heart of their community. Places to come together, to be inspired and be entertained. Theatres are where our best-loved actors learn their craft and thousands of others learn valuable skills.
But we risk losing this forever.
Theatres saw their main source of income disappear in an instant when they closed in March in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Six months later, we still don’t know when they will be able to reopen fully. A decision won’t be made until November at the earliest – too late for most to put on their annual pantomime, which often provides the income to support the theatre for the rest of the year.
This ongoing uncertainty puts theatres in a perilous situation. The government’s bailout is spread across all cultural organisations and certainly won’t be enough to save all of the UK’s theatres.
Every day theatres are facing the tough decision to make staff redundant and to close their doors until next year. And there is a real risk that those closures could be permanent.
Without urgent support, we could lose our nation’s amazing theatres. Please help us to make sure our theatres survive this crisis and will be there to be enjoyed by future generations.
#SaveOurTheatres