A little local difficulty

Reports in the national press that the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain (NYT) is preparing to close due to funding difficulties are wide of the mark, according to a statement released by the organisation. Admitting to experiencing “some financial constraints”, the NYT is making plans to stabilise the company’s position after a growing deficit led it to the brink of insolvency. The Arts Council has paid the company a £200,000 grant to allow it to continue trading, but the grant “is conditional on changes to its operation to make it more financially sustainable”. A spokesperson for the Arts Council said the extraordinary grant was made “in recognition of the excellence of the work and the importance of the NYT both to young people and the theatre sector as a whole”.