Birmingham Hippodrome is on a mission to enrich the cultural life of the region. Our vision is clear; we are creating a world-class cultural scene for our region with Birmingham Hippodrome firmly centre stage. As the cultural beating heart of the city, the Hippodrome reaches over one million people a year through on and off stage programmes of work, digital presence, and performances in Birmingham and beyond.
Birmingham Hippodrome is an independent charity, run by a board of voluntary trustees with no regular revenue funding from public sources. We frequently invest in projects alongside Arts Council England and with Birmingham City Council. Generous support is received from the business community through sponsorship and other partnerships; from individuals through donations and memberships; and from grant-making trusts for special programming and infrastructure projects. As a major employer in the region, we play a leading role in the Southside Business Improvement District.
Long recognised as one of the UK’s premier presenting theatres, the past four years have seen Birmingham Hippodrome develop into a creative producing organisation focused on access, diversity and inclusion, doubling our impact to match our annual audience of 550,000 with a further 450,000 people engaged via festivals, learning, participation and produced work, including our partnership with China Plate on the new musical To The Streets!, the immersive performance Waswasa – Whispers in Prayer with Soul City Arts, our co production with Curve of the award-winning The Color Purple and our collaboration with Rambert on Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby.
With nine Associate Companies, the Hippodrome produces and commissions bold new work, telling fresh and engaging stories, reflecting the youth and diversity of the city and region. We have further enhanced our reputation as a leading provider for Festivals, engaging over 150,000 people through B-SIDE Hip-Hop Festival, co-producing the city’s Chinese New Year celebrations, and regularly collaborating with Bullring & Grand Central on events including Birmingham Weekender.
Our Hippodrome Education Network delivers creative activities in 44 partner schools every week – 80%of which are in the UK’s 10% most deprived communities – with over 40,000 young people taking part over 120,000 times each year. We are also the largest dance campus outside London, home to Birmingham Royal Ballet (led by Carlos Acosta), FABRIC, Dance Consortium, OneDanceUK and digital agency The Space.
