Artistic director, Rod Dixon, says,

“This is fantastic news; the best possible outcome as Red Ladder heads into our 50th year. We see this as a great vote of confidence from Arts Council England in what we’ve achieved through a challenging time – but one in which we’ve thrived; through passion and dedication for what we do, and with the overwhelming support of our fans and peers.

Through project grants, creative partnerships and the backing of donors and creative collaborators, we’ve realised our ambitions and delivered a really successful body of work. We now have the funding to build on this with a bold and exciting new programme of work, taking us into our 50th year as a radical arts company that is committed to making theatre for the many, not the few.

We intend to further our touring work, taking new writing into communities where there traditionally is low engagement with the arts; and we have a number of productions in the pipeline as we commission and produce relevant plays that highlight injustice and drive social change. We remain committed to nurturing diverse artistic voices by removing barriers that far too often prevent new talent from developing in the arts. With this four-year funding and with the continued support of our fans, collaborators and Ladderistas – who are so vital to what we do – we’re looking forward to putting these plans into action for our milestone year, and our future.”

Red Ladder looks forward to delivering its artistic programme as a National Portfolio organisation once more, and to announce plans for its 50th anniversary in 2018.

Promised Land credit Tim Smith