Principal Partner
Since the beginning of Matthew Warchus’ tenure in 2015, RBC has supported over 30 productions and now, in the face of such challenging times, RBC continues to stand alongside us and support our theatre, our audiences, our community, our young beneficiaries, our freelancers and our emerging artists when we all need it most. RBC’s extraordinary generosity has not only enabled our innovative OLD VIC: IN CAMERA and IN CAMERA: PLAYBACK series; they have also supported our free-to-access Your Old Vic programme of artistic and educational content; an inclusive festive community project, Curtain Up; the digital delivery of the theatre’s free employability programme, Take the Lead; and in our greatest time of need, RBC have even enhanced their support to newly become Principal Partner of The Old Vic’s Artist Development Programme, nurturing the theatre makers of tomorrow.
The impact of RBC’s renewed support at this critical time for The Old Vic, the creative industries as a sector, and indeed, for the UK as a nation, is more profound than ever. RBC is brilliantly helping to safeguard The Old Vic’s future as a leading theatrical powerhouse, driven by a strong social mission.
On Stage
With RBC’s support, The Old Vic has produced critically acclaimed, award winning productions that have been enjoyed by millions of people globally. Across Matthew Warchus’ first two seasons as Artistic Director, a record-breaking audience of 600,000 people descended on The Old Vic to enjoy an epic programme of shows. The world premiere of Groundhog Day would go on to achieve a Broadway transfer, whilst Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax followed for a Canadian and US tour. Girl from the North Country saw both Sheila Atim and Shirley Henderson win Olivier Awards for their roles, a feat that was later repeated with Andrew Scott and Indira Varma’s performances in the critically acclaimed Present Laughter.
Our Bicentenary season of new writing also saw the creation of our very first production of the now beloved A Christmas Carol by Jack Thorne. Five years, an American tour, a Broadway transfer and five Tony Awards later, this has become a staple of The Old Vic calendar, welcoming new and returning audience into the festivities each year.
Thanks to Claire Foy, Matt Smith and the team behind our very first live streamed production of Lungs, over 69 countries tuned in to watch a performance happening live on The Old Vic stage. This paved the way for the global, sell out success of Three Kings which was written especially for Andrew Scott and OLD VIC: IN CAMERA. The OLD VIC: IN CAMERA live streamed performances of Lungs, Three Kings, Faith Healer, A Christmas Carol and Dr. Seuss’s The Loraxwere streamed globally to 108,810 households in 94 countries.
Artist Development
RBC has provided enhanced support to become Principal Partner of The Old Vic’s Artist Development Programme, enabling The Old Vic 12, the Baylis Director and Baylis Assistant Director Programmes, and the Connect Network.
Hugely generous additional donations from the RBC Foundation marks the exciting expansion of the RBC Emerging Artists Project to Europe, of which The Old Vic are proud to be a part. The launch of this programme reflects RBC’s long-standing commitment to supporting emerging artists, with its Canadian programme flourishing for more than a decade.
RBC recognises the important role artists play in building vibrant communities and strong economies. Without such well-established and industry renowned programmes, which offer paid development opportunities to young talent, the industry risks falling drastically behind in its attempt to diversify the talent pool, or worse still, losing an entire generation of theatre-makers at a time when culture is more critical than ever to our economic and social survival.
As Principal Partner of The Old Vic’s Artist Development Programme, RBC is helping to sustain the lifeblood of the creative industries when it is needed most, and we are indebted to its generosity and vision.
Education & Community
Since its inception in 2018, Take the Lead has worked with over 1,700 students from 46 schools across 23 London boroughs, with free employability training, thanks to RBC’s support which directly enables this project.
Over the course of 195 workshops and 15 events, 45 RBC volunteers have supported students aged 15–18 from across London to take ownership over their next steps after school and prepare them for the working world of the future.
Promoting Excellence
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is Canada’s largest bank, and one of the largest banks in the world.
RBC is committed to promoting world-class excellence in the arts and to strengthening the social fabric of communities. From visual arts and music, to performing arts, writing and filmmaking, investing in the arts is a longstanding priority as RBC recognises the important role that arts play in building vibrant communities and strong economies. Continuing with this tradition, RBC is proud to be Principal Partner of The Old Vic.
Dave Thomas, CEO, RBC Capital Markets, Europe said: ‘RBC has a long-standing commitment to support the arts, recognising the role it plays enhancing the communities in which we live and work. Our support of The Old Vic builds on that commitment and is a great opportunity for us to work with the the team at such an exciting time for the theatre.’
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is one of the largest banks in the world and is Canada’s largest bank by market capitalisation. It employs approximately 80,000 full and part-time employees who serve more than 16 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients in 37 countries.
RBC has a long history in Europe and has operated in the region since 1910 to serve corporate, institutional and high-net worth clients. Today, it provides a wide array of financial products and services, which are delivered by over 5,300 employees from offices in the UK, the Channel Islands, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Spain. RBC delivers financial products and services in Europe under the global brands RBC Capital Markets, RBC Wealth Management, RBC Investor & Treasury Services, RBC Global Asset Management and BlueBay Asset Management. For more information, click here.
RBC helps communities prosper, supporting a broad range of community initiatives through donations, community investments and employee volunteer activities. For more information click here.