Public fundraiser sees over £85,000 raised for Scotland's largest theatre charity

Edinburgh's King's Theatre, operated by Capital Theatres.

A public fundraiser has raised over £85,000 for Scotland’s largest theatre charity.

Capital Theatres today thanked the public for its support of the theatres through its Crowdfunder campaign, after an urgent appeal for support launched last month.

The Crowdfunder closed at noon today, having raised £86,900 from 1670 people, more than doubling its original target of £35,000.

Capital Theatres, which operates Edinburgh’s King’s Theatre, Festival Theatre and The Studio had asked for donations to help ensure its three city centre theatres can re-open and to ensure continued access to creativity and the arts for the most vulnerable communities during the Coronavirus pandemic.

The money raised will protect the core staff of the theatres, maintaining the heritage buildings and preparing for a March re-opening should government restrictions allow.

Fiona Gibson, CEO of Capital Theatre’s said: “All of us here at Capital Theatres are very humbled by the response from the public to our appeal.

“We know we still have a long way to go to reopen our doors, but an incredible show of support like this, with wonderful comments and memories shared, clearly demonstrates what our theatres mean to so many.

“It gives us all the passion, energy and determination we need to ensure we survive this crisis through bringing back great shows to our stages when we can and to support our community throughout.

“A huge, huge thank you to everyone who made this possible with your incredibly generous donations. We can’t wait to welcome you back over our doors when it’s safe for us to do so.”