Unity Theatre Trust
APPLYING FOR A UNITY THEATRE TRUST GRANT
GUIDANCE NOTES AND CONDITIONS OF GRANT
READ THESE NOTES BEFORE STARTING YOUR APPLICATION BELOW
START YOUR APPLICATION HERE- 1. Brief history and traditions of Unity Theatre and the Trust
Unity Theatre grew out of the agitprop street theatre in the East End of London in the early 1930's. Once established in a converted chapel in Kings Cross (built entirely with voluntary labour) Unity became the inspiration for a national upsurge in drama on social and political issues, since it was the only theatre in London throughout the 30's, 40's and early 50's producing plays on these subjects. Alongside shows specially created for Unity, it drew on the repertoire of world theatre, including innovative productions of works by Clifford Odets, Sean O'Casey, Lope de Vega, Jean Paul Sartre and Arthur Adamov. It was the first theatre in England to stage a play by Bertolt Brecht and it helped popularise the plays of Maxim Gorky.
Unity's strength lay with its audience drawn mainly from the trades unions and organised labour movements, but amongst its supporters were many eminent personalities e.g. Bernard Shaw, H.G.Wells, Sybil Thorndike, Beatrix Lehmann and Paul Robeson whose appearance with Unity, followed by international acclaim for the political pantomime Babes in the Wood, marked the peak of the theatre's fame.
With the outbreak of war, Unity was the first theatre to open in London once the ban on public entertainment had been lifted and it maintained a permanent repertory of plays, satirical revues and musicals throughout the five years of hostilities. It also sent out small groups of performers who, often in hazardous conditions, provided valuable shelter and factory entertainment for those winning the war at home.
Unity emerged from the war at the head of a national drama movement that was concerned with the lives of working people. Soon however, many of the developments pioneered by Unity, such as vernacular drama, Living Newspaper and biting satirical shows, were accepted by the theatrical mainstream and television.
Unity Theatre was destroyed by fire in 1975.
Many well-known theatre people - Lionel Bart, Alfie Bass, Michael Gambon, Bob Hoskins, David Kossoff, Warren Mitchell, Bill Owen and Ted Willis among them - learned their skills at this influential theatre which was the working people's most sustained and successful contribution to British drama and one of the most important and enduring initiatives in popular culture this century.
The Trust
Unity Theatre Trust was set up as a charity in the spirit of these traditions. The main objectives of the Trust are to advance the education of the public by fostering, promoting and increasing the interest of people in the art of drama and co-related arts.
- 2. Grant Aid
In the main, the Trust will fund drama and theatre related activities, but in addition, it will also fund projects in film, TV, video, music and dance. The Trustees reserve the right to include other areas if an application merits it, as long as the application falls within the Trust's charitable aims.
- 3. Eligibility
The Trust usually funds UK based projects or activities carried out by organisations. Individuals with some funding approved or who are sponsored by organisations are also eligible to apply for a grant.
Applicants are expected to have already raised a large proportion of the project’s costs for which they are applying for a grant.
Applications with funds already secured from recognised grant bodies will be favoured.
A project must start at least 2 weeks after the Trust meeting that considers the application.
Applications for projects starting before the Trust meeting that considers applications will not be considered.
- 4. Financial Conditions
All successful applicants must keep detailed accounts in relation to the disbursement of the grant received and make these available to the Trust for inspection at all reasonable times.
Any unused grant must be returned, unless prior permission has been given by the Trust for any other use.
- 5 Monitoring
In their efforts to monitor the effectiveness of their grant strategy, the Trustees expect all recipients of grant to inform the Trust of the success or otherwise of the activities for which the grant was given. They also expect to be invited to the performance of plays or events the Trust awards grants to. No grant may be used for any other purpose than that for which it was approved for without the prior permission of the Trust
- 6. The Charitable Aims of The Trust
All applicants, by accepting receipt of any grant, agree not to contravene the charitable aims of the Trust as summarised in (1) above
All successful applicants will be asked to confirm in writing their agreement as above before any grant is released.
- 7. Logo
All recipients of grant must acknowledge the support of Unity Theatre Trust by using the supplied logo, "SUPPORTED BY UNITY THEATRE TRUST" on all publicity and correspondence.
Click to download the logo Zip filehttps://unitytheatre.org.uk/ - 8. Grant dates and maximum number of applications considered
There are usually four Trust meetings a year to consider a maximum of 30 successfully submitted grant applications at each meeting.
The scheduling of the meetings is as follows:
- Round 1 opens in September with decisons in November
- Round 2 opens in December with decisions in Feburary
- Round 3 opens in March with Decisions in May
- Round 4 opens in June with decisions in August
- 9. Awarding & Administration of Grants
Following thier decisions, the Trustees will inform applicants about the outcome of their application. The decision will be one of the following:
- Successful, with details of the grant amount awarded
- Subject To, with details of the grant amount awarded but that is only payable subject to the applicant providing acceptable further information
- Unsuccessful
The award will be administered in the following ways:
- The total grant amount approved will be paid directly to the organisation's bank account following receipt of account details submitted via our system.
- A progress report must be submitted to the Trust by all successful projects on request.
- A final project report must be submitted using our online system on conclusion of the project
© 2025 Unity Theatre Trust
