Edinburgh-based Theatre Company Lung Ha, has beaten off stiff competition from over 600 organisations and is now competing against six other projects to be crowned the winner of the Arts category of this year’s National Lottery Awards. Winners of the seven National Lottery Awards categories, arts, sport, heritage, health, environment, education and voluntary/charity, will each get a £3,000 cash prize to spend on their project, an iconic National Lottery Awards trophy and attend a star-studded glittering Awards ceremony in London, broadcast on BBC One in September.
Lung Ha Theatre Company creates professional productions with performers who have learning disabilities. The Company, that has up to 25 performers, creates two dynamic and challenging productions each year, and auditions on an annual basis. It demonstrates that disabled performers can work to the same standard as other theatre professionals and hopes that doing so will change perceptions, create a more equal creative industry and help put disabled people at the focus of society. The Company recognises that limited accessible training opportunities and restrictions to benefits schemes make it harder for disabled people to find work in the performing arts. Creative Administrator of Lung Ha Theatre Company, Callum Madge, says that winning the prestigious National Lottery Award and having their work showcased on national television would be an honour.
TV star and actor John Barrowman, who will be presenting the National Lottery Awards for the sixth time this year, says, “The National Lottery Awards are a great way to shine a spotlight on outstanding lottery-funded projects. Now in their 13th year, the Awards celebrate the talent and dedication of the amazing staff and volunteers that run incredible life changing Lottery-funded projects for the benefit of their communities and the people who live in them. Your local project has worked very hard to become a finalist and they now need your support because the project with the most votes in each category will be crowned the winner. Projects receive funding thanks to National Lottery players who raise £36 million every single week for Good Causes across the UK such as Lung Ha Theatre Company.”
To vote for Lung Ha Theatre Company, please go to lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards or telephone 0844 836 9707 and follow the campaign on twitter: hashtag #NLAwards. Voting runs for four weeks from 9am on Wednesday 22 June until midnight on Wednesday 20 July.