Trusts, Foundations & DAFs
About us
The Telling is a registered charity (no. 1181802).
Despite our size, we deliver impactful work by touring our hallmark collision of theatre and music to excluded areas across the UK that larger arts organisations don’t dare to reach, while reaching audiences normally unmoved by traditional plays and classical concerts.
Our reach
In 2025/26, we delivered 51 performances, engaging 3,795 audience members in 29 locations across England, Wales and Scotland, most of which are typically excluded from touring circuits. We reached 765 schoolchildren through 23 workshops in 10 primary schools in 6 locations (Wolverhampton, Rochdale, Ulverston, Cardiff, Swansea & Southeast Edinburgh), delivering music workshops to children who don't typically have sustained access to music education.
Who fund us
Our two most recent ACE applications were unsuccessful, so we rely on grants and donations from trusts, foundations, DAFs, public funders and individuals to fund this work. See our list of funders here.
If you can help us with a donation or grant, or want to find out more about our programmes, please contact us here.
Why support us
Producing theatre and music shows requires more costly rehearsal time, a theatre director, stage crew and technicians, compared to a traditional concert.
In order to reach excluded communities where there is no theatre or early/classical music promoter, we cover the costs of venue hire, fees for artists and crew, accommodation and travel. The wider our reach, the higher the costs.
Promoter fees and ticket income don’t come close to covering these costs.
We are prepared to do the hard work that others won't because we believe the communities we serve are worth every effort, and we hope you do too.
Current Fundraising Priorities
We need support to deliver our 2027 music outreach projects to schoolchildren across the UK, who are in need of musical enrichment. The schools are chosen in consultation with local music services. Costs include fees for the workshop facilitators and musicians, and travel.
We will also tour two theatre and music shows, Creating Carmen (Sep - Oct 2027) and Practically Imperfect (Nov - Dec 2027), to disadvantaged and excluded communities across the UK. Costs include fees for the artists, director, stage manager, and technical crew, as well as venue hire, lighting equipment hire (which enables us to perform in communities that lack a theatre venue), travel, accommodation, marketing, and project management.
In addition, we are always in need of core funding, without which our important work wouldn't be possible.
If you can help support any of these costs, please get in touch.
What people say about us
Outreach Feedback
“It was a wonderful opportunity for our kids to experience something they would never usually experience.” - Teacher feedback in Wolverhampton
“This was a profound experience... The project will definitely have helped the individuals to grow in confidence” -One World Choir Musical Director
Community Feedback
“Thank you for coming to Cumbria – we often feel left out by touring companies.”
“I’ve always assumed performances weren't my kind of thing, but I was blown away”
Press Reviews
★★★★ "this is one show that deserves greater exposure…” - The Times
★★★★ "daring and vivid one-man psychodrama" - The Guardian
Accolades
In 2024, we won the prestigious Audience Participation of the Year Award organised by the European Early Music organisation, REMA for our Songs & Stories outreach project, which enabled refugees to express their longing for home through music.
Our writer, Clare Norburn won the Colin Skipp Memorial Playwriting Prize in 2023 for a radioplay and was shortlisted for the same prize again in 2025. She was also selected for BBC's The Space Pitch Perfect scheme to develop a radio play with music to pitch for BBC Radio.
Our regular director, Nicholas Renton, directed Andrew Davies’ BAFTA-nominated Mrs Gaskell’s Wives and Daughters for BBC TV and episodes of Lewis, Musketeers, Silent Witness and George Gently.
We work with a pool of 20+ actors and musicians who are leading names in their fields and have worked with organisations such as BBC TV, Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Dufay Collective and I Fagiolini.
Monitoring and Evaluation
We distribute feedback surveys to audiences, participants and schoolteachers for all our projects using an accessible and age-appropriate format, including a smiley face scale for primary school pupils. We ask survey respondents what they think we did well, the impact the project has had on them and how we could improve and develop the project for the future. We base our surveys on templates used by the Audience Development Agency for performances and outreach projects. We consider projects successful when we receive positive feedback and reports of meaningful impact from our beneficiaries.
Contact us
If you can help us with a donation or grant, or want to find out more about our programmes, please contact us here.
Thank you so much for your support.
