#SaveOurTheatres - OSO Arts Centre Barnes

Aim

We’re part of a national initiative launched by Theatres Trust to prevent the permanent closure of UK theatres. Please support our campaign.

The OSO Arts Centre in Barnes SW London is part of a national initiative launched by Theatres Trust to prevent the permanent closure of hundreds of UK theatres.

The OSO needs your help. We plan to reopen in late September and are busy programming an exciting Autumn season. But having been closed as a performance space since March, with no income from ticket sales, bar takings or venue hire, we are now looking to raise £5,000 via Crowdfunder to support the reopening.

Why are we crowdfunding?

Your support will help to fund a range of measures designed to ensure the venue can operate to the new guidelines, including:
• New tables and chairs which will be used to lay out the theatre cabaret style and so achieve the necessary distancing, as well as providing additional outdoor seating.
• Upgrading the toilet facilities.
• Remodelling of the café and purchase of new kitchen equipment to help speed and efficiency of service and create more internal space.
• Automating the main entrance doors to improve accessibility.
We can’t wait to welcome you back to the OSO - many thanks for your support.

About the OSO Arts Centre

A registered charity, we are a multi-disciplinary arts centre and community hub. Last year we stage over 200 performances and welcomed 7,000 through our doors. Alongside our arts programme, we host several local clubs and societies as well as annual Children’s Literature, Music and Fringe Festivals.

While closed during lockdown, we repurposed as a Crisis Kitchen, cooking and distributing 10,000 meals to those in need in our community.

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 

Please donate, share this page widely and do what you can to help us to make sure our theatre survive this crisis. 

This project closed unsuccessfully on 6th October 2020