The culture secretary, Andy Burnham, has announced £2.5m to go towards making theatre performances in England available to young people free of charge.
The two-year scheme will start in February 2009 in 95 venues. Theatres will offer a proportion of their tickets free to people under 26 on a particular day of the week.
Theatres – primarily those who already receive local authority or Arts Council funding – will be able to bid to take part in the initiative, which will be managed by ACE.
Free tickets for young people was one of the recommendations of this year's McMaster report, Supporting Excellence in the Arts.
The full DCMS press release is available here.
Personally, I think it sounds like a grand idea. But why is it confined to theatre? What about classical music, dance and opera?
