London Ticket Bank: New initiative set to give away 1,000 theatre tickets a week to some of London’s poorest

Some of the poorest Londoners will soon be able to access tickets to theatre productions, as a new initiative is set to give 1,000 tickets away each week. The Ticket Bank has been headed up by the Cultural Philanthropy Foundation and Cardboard Citizens, to offer tens of thousands of tickets to shows across the capital to those most impacted by the cost-of-living crisis.

Set to launch from January 9 next year, seven leading cultural organisations have committed to the charitable initiative with more to be announced in the new year. Each cultural organisation has pledged tickets for theatre, comedy, live music and dance performances at a donate-what-you-can rate through The Ticket Bank website.

Tickets will be allocated to what the Cultural Philanthropy Foundation believes are the ideal partners who represent people and communities historically under-served by cultural organisations. These include Centrepoint, The House of St Barnabas, The Longford Trust, Positive Action in Housing, Union Chapel, The Big House and a number of outreach programmes and food banks across London.

The likes of The Almeida Theatre, Barbican, Bush Theatre, Gate Theatre, The National Theatre, Roundhouse and Tara Theatre have all backed the new initiative, providing tickets to some of those theatres’ programme of events in the new year; be that theatre, opera, musicals or forms of dance .The aforementioned partners will provide access codes direct to their programme participants to enable them to book tickets via The Ticket Bank.

“Very rarely do you come across an idea that is so simple and brilliant that you can’t believe it doesn’t already exist” remarked Chair of the Cultural Philanthropy Foundation, Caroline McCormick. “When Chris Sonnex told me his idea for The Ticket Bank, my response was as simple as his idea - "we have to make this happen."

Chris Sonnex, Artistic Director and joint CEO of Cardboard Citizens, said: “Access to art and culture are essential to the human condition, a human right. If people can’t afford these riches, society is poorer off. I’m incredibly proud of the London arts and culture community coming together to offer tickets city wide to people who, through no fault of their own, are on or under a poverty line.”

“It is a real act of change, and it will give many people, who couldn’t otherwise, the opportunity to be entertained, to see other worlds, to escape and most importantly to dream”.

Donations of any size can be made through The Ticket Bank website.