Having made a Round 1 development funding application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) in late 2015, we have been informed that our application has been successful! £40,100 will enable us to conduct the necessary research to produce a comprehensive Round 2 application. Our goal is to deliver to NLHF a detailed proposal for Riverside’s archive, including an activity plan (for public heritage-related events), designated staff and purpose-built archive storage.
After over a year of research, consultation, development and writing, we have submitted our Round 2 project delivery funding application to NLHF. Now we wait…
We have received written confirmation that our Round 2 application for funding has been successful! The enthusiastic reaction to the news from all our staff and board members is testament to how invested our organisation has become in the heritage project.
Head of NLHF London, Stuart Hobley, had this to say about the award:
“From Daleks to David Bowie, the archive of Riverside Studios is a deliciously eclectic chronicle of our cultural heritage! This project will take that extraordinary archive and make it available to the public for the first time through a creative activity programme. I think it’s great that National Lottery players’ money can support Riverside Studios, which itself has championed some of our most talented and well-loved performers”.
Playwright and screenwriter Stephen Poliakoff, a supporter of our project, also celebrated the funding:
“It's fabulous news that the extraordinary archive at Riverside Studios is to have a home in the new building and that the public will have access to it. Some of my most memorable nights in the theatre have been at Riverside Studios over the years, seeing Helen Mirren in ‘Measure for Measure’ and Alan Rickman in ‘Hamlet’. There is an exquisite library of photos capturing these great moments from the past both in theatre and music, and it is tremendous that this is being preserved for future generations.”
It is vital that a purpose-built and temperature-controlled archive store is built into the plans for the new Riverside Studios, so we are in the process of working with the engineers and architects to agree the location. It has to be big enough not just to house the existing collection, but to allow us to add new material as it is produced and/or donated.
