Theatre board pledge their support for 2014 Big Give Christmas Challenge.
irmingham Repertory Theatre has been accepted onto the nationwide Big Give Christmas Challenge for the first time as one of over 300 charities. The Christmas Challenge helps registered charities such as The REP increase their voluntary donations and last year’s Challenge raised over £11 million for charities in the UK.
The REP’s dedicated Board of Directors have already accomplished the first stage of the Challenge. Members of the board, including its chair Angela Maxwell, have personally donated towards a total pledge fund of £7,500 – the first important step in reaching The REP’s Christmas Challenge target of £30,000. Charities who take part in the Challenge have access to over £2 million of Charity Champion Funding provided by foundations, corporate sponsors and individuals. These funds are used to help charities match donations made by their supporters.
This generous support by the Board of Directors has given The REP’s Big Give Christmas Challenge a solid start. The REP, like many arts organisations in the West Midlands, has not been immune to recent cuts in arts funding. All of the money raised by the Big Give Christmas Challenge will go towards creating great theatre such as the world stage premiere of Meera Syal’s Anita And Me in October 2015. One ambition of The REP is to tour Anita And Me so as to enable more students and schools across the UK to experience the production as part of the new GCSE English curriculum.
Angela Maxwell, Chair of the Board of Directors at Birmingham Repertory Theatre says: “We are delighted to be taking part in the Christmas Challenge for the first time as we have a clear aim to grow and diversify future funding for the theatre. The Challenge will not only do that, but will also enable The REP to create and tour an exciting world stage premiere of Anita And Me and showcase the outstanding work of the theatre to audiences beyond Birmingham.”
The next stage of the Big Give Christmas Challenge is to encourage more donations from the business community, individual donors and audiences. All donations made to The REP will have the chance to be doubled by the Big Give this Christmas. For donations of £125 or more, which will equal £250 for the theatre if made online, The REP will ‘Name a Seat’ with a special commemorative plaque dedicated to the donor or a loved one for 10 years.
The REP’s Big Give Christmas Challenge takes place at 10am on 4, 5 and 6 December 2014. All donations made online at 10am only on these dates will be doubled. Visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/biggive to find out more and to donate.