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Having recently discussed the positive impact of Crowdfunding on science, sport and healthcare the latest thing to catch the eye is the soaring popularity of Crowdfunding in theatre. With an estimated 14million people flocking to London’s West End every year to view a plethora of theatrical performances, it comes as no surprise to see people so keen to invest.
Ambitious productions have led to sky high ticket prices and consequentially half full audiences causing the curtain to fall on popular and successful West End shows. Production costs can be as high as £8million for Musicals so traditional investment has lent its hand to wealthy groups or angel investors, so it only seems natural for Crowdfunding to enter stage right.
The Crowdfunding Centre have released figures from Q1 2014 that show Crowdfunding campaigns in the UK have raised over £250,000 for theatre projects, with the number of individual backers rising 700% in 3 months. Whilst the total amount raised is clearly a long way short of total production costs the crowd are clearly excited about being part of a show.
Currently online donations are being rewarded on a philanthropic basis with investors receiving signed programs or press night tickets however one producer from the West End has stated the potential for it to move from a donation based model of Crowdfunding to an Equity based model, with investors receiving similar financial terms as their offline counterparts – if the show makes a profit.
The show must go on!