As a global theatre company based in the heart of the Midlands, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is proud to be the largest Arts Council England National (ACE) Portfolio Organisation outside London. We seek to be part of local, national and international conversations that build connections, create opportunities and spark joy.

In delivering his first major speech from Coventry, Chancellor Rt Hon John Healey MP recognised the West Midlands as a thriving hub. As a major cultural anchor institution within this region, the RSC believes that arts and culture have the power to deliver what the Chancellor himself recognised as the only long term solution to the challenges he is grabbling with: growth.

In summary, our representation to the Autumn Budget 2026 calls for:

1. Arts and culture are at the heart of regional renewal, enabling growth in every postcode

a) Invest in capital infrastructure to boost growth. The precarious state of performing arts infrastructure remains one of the greatest threats to the sector’s long-term growth and viability. These buildings are essential anchors for economic activity, civic engagement, tourism and the cultural lifeblood of our local communities.

b) Fiscal interventions to support touring to generate inclusive growth across England. Specifically, expand Theatre Tax Relief (TTR) to include touring.

c) Empower Metro Mayors to convene local partners to address regional skills needs. The RSC is currently working with the West Midlands Combined Authority alongside the Birmingham Hippodrome and other Midlands based performing arts organisations to develop a regional skills map for young people aged 16+ as well as to secure a collective commitment to the Government’s Jobs Guarantee programme. Empower Mayors to do this at scale.

d) Put culture at the heart of strategies to grow nighttime and visitor economies and transport infrastructure to boost growth. Culture, the arts and heritage are the primary reasons leisure visitors come to the UK; they are our global soft power, but strategies for visitor and nighttime economies could utilise culture to drive growth in every postcode. For example, a portion of funds raised from the proposed visitor levy must be ringfenced for culture infrastructure and placemaking to transform visitor economies.

e) Unlock philanthropy to generate funding for the arts and culture sectors. Establish a Cultural Philanthropy Tax Credit; create a universal digital Gift Aid declaration through HMRC so donors can apply relief across all charities; build public legitimacy for philanthropy by introducing a national philanthropy award and ensure the Honours System continues to recognise philanthropic service especially to arts, culture, and creative industries.

2. Invest in arts rich education to boost growth

a) Invest in an arts rich education in England to unlock its potential to deliver growth and opportunity for every postcode. Introduce a grant to direct additional investment towards schools serving disadvantaged communities and ensure every child has a meaningful entitlement in the curriculum.

b) Support international growth of the Shakespeare Curriculum (the RSC’s first of its kind digital learning platform) to drive investment in the UK. Help the RSC drive soft power, revolutionise teaching and unlock potential through the power of Shakespeare across the globe via international growth of the Shakespeare Curriculum.

The RSC also supports the joint performing arts sector's Budget submission.

1. ARTS AND CULTURE ARE AT THE HEART OF REGIONAL RENEWAL

A. CAPITAL INFRASTRUCTURE

The RSC is recommending mechanisms to invest in capital infrastructure to boost growth

THE OPPORTUNITY

The RSC, along with many ACE National Portfolio Organisations, has urgent capital infrastructure needs across a complex Stratford-upon-Avon estate dating back to 1879. Recent capital funding is welcome, but it does not deliver the sustained investment needed to drive growth, safeguard ageing buildings and futureproof cultural infrastructure.

We welcome the government’s recent investment in arts venue capital projects; specifically, the £425 million Creative Foundations Fund (CFF), part of the wider £1.5 billion Arts Everywhere Fund. The RSC was also delighted to receive a £7,298,800 grant from the CFF to support a transformational upgrade to creative facilities in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, including a new automation system and investment in building infrastructure that will ensure the venue can continue to be enjoyed for generations to come.

We believe that further investment in capital infrastructure can be used to generate inclusive growth in regions across England, where cultural buildings are essential anchors for economic activity, civic engagement, tourism and the cultural lifeblood of our local communities.

THE CHALLENGE

But the scale of repair and renewal required far outpaces the allocated funding.

The precarious state of performing arts infrastructure remains one of the greatest threats to the sector’s long-term growth and viability. These buildings serve as essential anchors for economic activity, civic engagement and tourism. Ultimately, neglected infrastructure threatens the long-term survival of the very venues and performances that form the cultural lifeblood of our local communities, threatening access to culture in postcodes across the UK.

The need for immediate, large-scale intervention is overwhelming and undeniable:

Massive undersupply - Research published by DCMS in January 2026 conservatively estimated the total cost of necessary repairs, maintenance, and renewal (RMR) of cultural venues in England at £7 billion. Of the £3 billion needed urgently over the next five years, there was an immediate funding deficit of approximately £2 billion.

Overwhelming demand - Round one of the CFF was instantly overwhelmed. Applications estimated by the CMS Select Committee Chair Caroline Dinenage MP to be worth over £700 million were received for a £96 million pot. This massive oversubscription confirms a national capital ‘black hole,’ proving the £96 million fund is a tiny fraction of the true need. At £76.8 million, the second round of CFF funding will undoubtedly face another wave of oversubscription.

With an application limit of £10 million for both rounds so far, CFF is insufficient to cover the critical remedial works required by major NPOs that welcome millions of visitors annually, operate listed buildings and need to ensure they are accessible to all as well as environmentally sustainable. The RSC is one of many cultural organisations in need of over £10 million of essential capital works. Crucially, this limit cannot deliver the large-scale regenerative works needed to fulfil the Government’s growth agenda.

Ministerial recognition - The severity of this issue is acknowledged at the highest level: Rt Hon Lisa Nandy MP, Secretary of State, admitted to the CMS Select Committee that the state of cultural infrastructure ‘...is one of the things in the brief that keeps me awake at night.’ There is clear ministerial recognition of the problem.

THE SOLUTION

We propose the following interventions to maximise the opportunity and address this challenge:

B. TOURING

The RSC is calling for fiscal interventions, such as extending theatre tax relief (TTR) to touring activity, so touring can be used to boost inclusive growth across England

THE OPPORTUNITY

The RSC has 16 regional theatre partners, 8 large-scale (defined as 700 seats and above) and 8 small- and medium-scale (defined as up to 699 seats), alongside working with 280 schools. Each year we tour our small scale First Encounters with Shakespeare productions into schools and communities via this existing network of educational and theatre partners.

The RSC recently announced a four-year national touring programme, meaning audiences across England, from Cornwall to Cumbria, will have the opportunity to experience high-quality Shakespeare productions in their local community, thanks to a £2 million funding boost from Arts Council England (ACE), using money from the National Lottery.

We believe strongly that communities across the country should have access to a wide range of high-quality performing arts opportunities, that foster connections and spark joy, including productions of Shakespeare’s plays. This can be used to boost inclusive growth in every postcode: for every £1 spend on a theatre ticket, £1.40 is spent in local economies.

THE CHALLENGE

However, this type of touring is not commercially viable. The costs associated with making theatre have increased significantly post-COVID, and this is particularly true of touring, exacerbated by the rise in transport and accommodation costs.

For over 20 years, our partnership network of 16 regional theatres and 280 Associate Schools has delivered transformative arts experiences to children, young people and communities across England.

In 2025/26, we delivered both small- and large-scale tours across the country including into underserved, remote and coastal areas. In spring 2026, our five-star Hamlet production toured to partner theatres across the country with an accompanying community participation programme that engaged adults with little or no prior Shakespeare experience. Evaluation of that programme revealed significant benefits. Confidence in theatre-making increased from 60% to 88%, loneliness reduced and participants' sense of belonging strengthened - with 95% reporting connection to their wider community at the end of the project.

In 2025, our First Encounters touring productions of King Lear toured to schools, theatres and community venues across England, including first-ever RSC performances on the Isles of Scilly, the Isle of Wight, and in 13 Associate Schools and two venues that had never previously hosted our work. The show was seen by 11,158 young people and their families, with 16% of the audience questioned seeing theatre for the first time and 39% new to Shakespeare.

We believe that all communities in every postcode should have the same opportunities to access a wide range of high-quality performing arts opportunities that foster connections, spark joy, promote skills development and unlock potential. Increasingly, however, this type of touring, is not commercially viable. The costs associated with making theatre have increased significantly post-COVID, and this is particularly true of touring, exacerbated by the rise in transport and accommodation costs.

THE SOLUTION

We propose the following intervention to maximise the opportunity and address this challenge:

C. SKILLS

The RSC is calling for Metro Mayors to be empowered to convene local partners to address regional skills needs to unlock growth

THE OPPORTUNITY

Developing effective skills pathways is a meaningful way to drive growth. To be done successfully, it should respond to local need; be built with local partners; work to support delivery of sector strategies, such as the Creative Industries Sector Plan as part of the Industrial Strategy; utilise the convening powers of Metro Mayors; and be championed by central government.

THE CHALLENGE

The RSC currently offers a range of talent development pathways. We are aiming to address the gap between education and the workplace through these routes, using our resources to focus on these pathways and skills development from our work in schools, through our apprenticeship and traineeship programmes and into employment of early careers roles to support the ecosystem of talent development.

This talent development work includes both on stage, with Next Generation Backstage Act and Direct, and offstage with Next Generation Backstage, which supports our work in schools across the country to create a talent pipeline for backstage roles. We offer opportunities to pupils in our First Encounters tour venue locations to shadow backstage roles, and each year our Next Gen groups perform on our stages. We also welcome apprenticeships each year into backstage roles, with most going on to secure future employment either with us, or with other performing arts venues across the ecosystem.

However, we do not think this is enough.

There are current and future workforce risks, including skills gaps in technical and backstage areas, an ageing workforce in some disciplines, and continued under-representation (in different forms). Creative PEC's Skills Audit shows that creative economy employers are ambitious for growth, with nearly 50% looking to expand their workforce, but are hampered by an outdated skills system. 21% of employers with skills challenges suggest these are hindering innovation and 19% said they were having to scale back growth or investment plans. The skills infrastructure is not enabling this growth, with 36% of employers reporting they lack funds for training.

Alongside this, with the recent independent review by Alan Milburn showing there are 981,000 young people aged 16 to 24 that are NEET (not in education, employment or training), it is clear there is a growing need to address the youth unemployment crisis and invest in the next generation of talent, to ensure they have the skills and opportunities to address these gaps.

THE SOLUTION

We propose the following intervention to maximise the opportunity and address this challenge, noting these are not fiscal solutions but require cross government leadership and collaboration with other departments and government bodies:

D. STRATEGIES FOR NIGHTTIME, VISITOR ECONOMIES AND TRANSPORT

The RSC is calling for culture to be at the heart of strategies to grow and support the nighttime and visitor economies, and transport infrastructure to boost growth

THE OPPORTUNITY

Disparate current government strategies that are designed to support regional growth could better utilise the nation's cultural assets to increase efficacy and effectiveness. These strategies include nighttime and visitor economies and transport infrastructure.

We know that culture is a crucial driver of tourism: 39% of tourists choose destinations based on their cultural offer.

Arts Council England reports that arts and culture contribute £10.6 billion to the UK economy. Regionally for the RSC, the West Midlands Growth Company reports that there were over 145 million visitors in 2023 to the West Midlands, who generated £16 billion for the local economy (up 15% from the previous year). Culture, the arts and heritage are the primary reasons leisure visitors come to the UK; they are our global soft power.

THE CHALLENGE

As a leading global theatre company based in Stratford-upon-Avon, transport and the lack of connected infrastructure in the region continue to be a barrier in getting audiences, and our staff and freelance colleagues, to our stages and workshops. Regional transport plans that connect to cultural and heritage assets to create landing hubs for tourists to travel outside of London would help to maximise the potential of tourism destinations across the country.

We have worked with Warwickshire County Council to develop and now permanently extend a travel scheme to extend the town’s bus timetable, to ensure audience members, staff and colleagues could travel to Coventry, Warwick, and Leamington after a performance ends. However, this bus journey still takes 2 hours from Stratford to Coventry, rather than a 30-minute drive. This lack of sustainable transport options for visitors also impacts accessibility of tourism hubs outside of London, the diversity of our workforce and audience members.

We strongly welcome Chiltern Railways re-introducing a new, direct weekday return service between London Marylebone and Stratford-upon-Avon from December 2026. As the largest Arts Council NPO outside London and a major international tourist attraction based in the heart of the Midlands, it is critical to the RSC’s business model to welcome as wide a range of visitors from across the nation and around the world to Stratford.

THE SOLUTION

We propose the following intervention to maximise the opportunity and address this challenge:

E. PHILANTHROPY

The RSC is recommending more fiscal interventions to incentivise philanthropy to boost funding into the thriving, but precarious, theatre and wider cultural sectors to prevent an increase in burden on the taxpayer.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Philanthropy can be a strategic partner with its unique ability to take risks and drive innovation. Private capital can support national priorities on skills development, creative industries and creative health. By encouraging and championing philanthropy, the government can help deliver that growth. We support the recommendations to support and incentivise philanthropy that Baroness Hodge set out in her review of ACE.

THE CHALLENGE

Philanthropic giving in the UK is in decline. The creative industries are a particular casualty: philanthropy supports one in every six pounds invested in the arts, yet falling donations now threaten arts and culture in every postcode. Without new incentives for giving, the UK risks losing cultural capacity that underpins innovation, place-making, national pride and makes the UK’s creative sector the envy of the world.

To intentionally champion the role of philanthropy to do what the state cannot will drive growth and build pride across every town, village and city across the nation. For example, only one-third of the UK’s wealthiest 100 give more than 1% of their wealth away. The Law Family Commission estimates that if the top 1% of earners gave 1% of pre-tax income, it would generate an additional £1.4 billion a year for public good.

THE SOLUTION

We propose the following interventions to maximise the opportunity and address this challenge:

2. INVEST IN ARTS RICH EDUCATION TO BOOST GROWTH

A. ARTS RICH EDUCATION

In our Budget submission, we are calling on Government to invest in an arts-rich education to unlock its potential in every postcode.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Arts education is a powerful and often overlooked catalyst to develop essential transferrable skills, improve confidence and wellbeing and address disadvantage gaps. At a time when young people in the UK are experiencing record levels of anxiety, disconnection from peers and the education system, and are navigating an increasingly hostile and fragmented online social and cultural sphere, the arts have power to connect, build trust and heal.

The RSC’s Time to Listen research2, conducted with Tate and the University of Nottingham, defines arts-rich schools as those where all students have access to cultural opportunities, where teachers act as creative facilitators and cultural brokers, and where schools build sustained partnerships with professional arts organisations. This research found that young people attending arts-rich schools reported that their arts and cultural learning developed a sense of identity, confidence, empathy, creativity, independence and the ability to interpret the world around them.

Investment in arts education is therefore not simply about enriching the day-to-day educational experience of students now. An arts-rich education builds well rounded, confident and connected citizens of the future, strengthening our economy and society.

THE CHALLENGE

Yet over a decade of funding cuts and failure to invest in workforce and resources has relegated arts education to a ‘nice to have’. The result is a postcode lottery in access to arts-rich learning, with areas with the highest levels of deprivation reporting lowest levels of provision and participation. The arts entitlement gap is widening, with negative impacts on attainment, wellbeing and opportunity - particularly post-COVID.

This is a staggering lost opportunity, and current proposals in the ‘Every Child Achieving and Thriving’ White Paper only go so far in unlocking the potential of the arts.

In the context of reductions in funding and rising costs for schools, including growing pressures on SEND provision, funding for arts education and enrichment opportunities has contracted. This has a disproportionate impact on schools in areas of structural disadvantage where funding gaps are less able to be met by parents and the wider community.

Sustained, ring-fenced investment is essential to enable schools and arts organisations to work in partnership and deliver the transformative educational and enrichment experiences.

THE SOLUTION

We propose the following interventions to maximise the opportunity and address this challenge:

B. SHAKESPEARE CURRICULUM

The RSC is seeking the support of HMT and other key parts of Government to help us build the international offer of the Shakespeare Curriculum, to bring income to the UK, drive soft power, revolutionise teaching and unlock potential through the power of Shakespeare across the globe.

THE OPPORTUNITY

The RSC’s Shakespeare Curriculum is a first of its kind digital learning platform, free to all SEND and state-maintained secondary schools, that distils the RSC’s award-winning teaching approaches into a framework to revolutionise experiences of learning Shakespeare, boosting educational attainment, the quality of teaching and the wellbeing of pupils.

It addresses multiple key Government priorities to provide a scalable, cost-effective, and evidence-based model for integrating a digital-first creative learning resource into the curriculum; helping address the arts entitlement gap, supporting the growth and skills missions and unlocking potential for every young person.

The Shakespeare Curriculum is evidence-led and positively impacts:

• children and young people with improved educational attainment, language development and wellbeing,
• teachers and schools with more impactful teaching techniques, improved teacher retention,
• families and communities with improved cohesion and pride in place.

We launched the Shakespeare Curriculum in November 2025, and the response has been extraordinary. To date, over a third of all state maintained secondary schools are signed up to the platform.

THE CHALLENGE

The RSC would now like to take the Shakespeare Curriculum to international markets. We believe this will bring growth to the UK and well as driving soft power across the globe. We look for non-fiscal support from Government to help us do so.

THE SOLUTION

We propose the following interventions to maximise the opportunity and address this challenge:

If you would like any further information on any aspect of this submission, please contact:

Sophie Davies, Communications and Stakeholder Manager on sophie.davies@rsc.org.uk

APPENDIX

This appendix includes the following

1. A case study of the impact touring has on communities while facing issues around commercial viability
2. More information on the 20th anniversary of RSC's Associate Schools Programme
3. Information about the RSC and our impact

1. Touring case study

In spring 2026, our five-star Hamlet production toured to partner theatres across England with an accompanying community participation programme that engaged adults with little or no prior experience of Shakespeare.

Evaluation of that programme revealed significant benefits. Confidence in theatre-making increased from 60% to 88%, loneliness reduced and participants' sense of belonging strengthened - with 95% reporting connection to their wider community at the end of the project.

In 2025, our First Encounters production of King Lear toured to schools, theatres and community venues across England, including the first-ever RSC performances on the Isles of Scilly, the Isle of Wight, and in 13 Associate Schools and two venues that had never previously hosted our work. The show was seen by 11,158 young people and their families, with 16% of the audience questioned seeing theatre for the first time and 39% new to Shakespeare.

By taking performances directly into communities, we can remove some of the financial barriers (transport, tickets, accommodation) as well as perceptual barriers around whether people feel theatre is a place where they belong.

We believe that all communities should have the same opportunities to access a wide range of high-quality performing arts opportunities that foster connections, spark joy, promote skills development and unlock potential. Increasingly, however, this type of touring, is not commercially viable. The costs associated with making theatre have increased significantly post-COVID, and this is particularly true of touring, exacerbated by the rise in transport and accommodation costs.

2. 20th anniversary of RSC's Associate Schools Programme

2026 is the 20th anniversary of the RSC's flagship Associate Schools Programme, which is a sustained partnership model that brings together schools, regional theatres and local communities.

Through the programme, we work with 280 state-funded schools and 16 theatre partners across England, using Shakespeare and our award-winning rehearsal-room approaches to unlock the potential of children and young people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities.

The programme not only transforms experiences of learning but also creates progression routes into further training and employment, including through our talent development, leadership and apprenticeship programmes. A particular focus of our work is on supporting schools serving communities facing the greatest levels of disadvantage, with many of our partnerships located in the most deprived fifth of areas according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation.

This work is underpinned by rigorous research. Following a randomised controlled trial as part of our major Time to Act study, overseen by academics from the University of Oxford, which demonstrated statistically significant improvements in children's language development, we are currently working with the Education Endowment Foundation on a further large-scale trial examining the impact of RSC teacher training on the writing attainment of Year 5 pupils.

To celebrate two decades of working in deep partnership with schools, theatres and communities across the UK, we have programmed Building Partnerships: A 20 Year Story, a series of events and performances taking place this autumn, including:

16-19 September, Next Generation: Factory A new verbatim piece of theatre from LUNG, a multi-award-winning campaign led arts charity, performed by our Next Generation Act Company and supported by young trainees from Next Generation Direct and Backstage.

18 September, Building Partnerships: A 20-Year Story Arts Symposium: A public arts symposium, giving colleagues from across the cultural and education sector the opportunity to share learnings from 20 years of partnership work in schools. Keynote speakers will be announced soon, and it will feature a special performance of Factory.

26 Sept-28 November, First Encounters: Julius Caesar: Our annual tour to schools and partner theatres will be a re-mount of Phyllida’s Lloyd’s 2012 Donmar Theatre production of Julius Caesar with Harriet Walter in the starring role. The show will visit five schools around England before coming to The Other Place.

21 November, Young Creatives Festival: Co-curated by the RSC’s Youth Advisory Board, this event will see up to 200 young people gather at The Other Place for an inspirational programme of workshops, panel discussions and debates, examining themes of justice, governance, leadership and the power of words to inspire and affect change.

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3. About the RSC

With a unique mandate to deliver an inspirational, artist-led programme, develop essential sector skills, and bring Shakespeare’s work to life through innovative engagement and learning, the RSC:

• Has had 1,618,000 attendances, online and in person, including performances and other events, attracting audiences from Aberlour to Penzance, and from at least 86 different countries.
• Is the largest ACE NPO outside London, employing 1,029 staff (2025).
• Has an annual domestic touring programme, including small and large-scale tours to schools, communities, and major venues and 16 deep partnerships with theatres across England and tours internationally.
• Reaches 500,000 young people, 1,000 schools and 2,000 teachers each year.
• Works with a national network of 280 associate schools and across 100 towns and cities in England, which will grow to 350 by 2025/26
• Is the only performing arts organisation with Independent Research Organisation status.
• Produced landmark research, Time To Act (2024), which provides statistically significant evidence of our approach and the role of the arts in improving young people’s social, emotional, and academic development.
• Has 19 apprenticeships and the Next Generation talent development programme offering pathways for young people from low-income backgrounds - over 500 participants to date.

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