Mayflower Launches Transport Bursary Scheme in Partnership with Xelabus

Mayflower has announced their new Transport Bursary Scheme in partnership with Xelabus. The new bursary scheme will help fulfil the belief that every person has the right to attend the theatre and experience the joy and opportunity this can bring. The bursary will support schools as well as community groups funding their transport to both Mayflower venues. In 2023, UK Theatre’s Theatre for Every Child campaign was introduced to amplify national voice about the importance of theatre visits for schools and the new bursary scheme is just one way in which Mayflower supports this national campaign. 

Mayflower recognises that many schools’ finances act as a blocker to children attending live theatre and already have schemes in place to help those most disadvantaged schools including subsidised ticket schemes for schools above the national average Free School Meals percentage, free schools theatre concerts with Welsh National Opera and a partnership with Theatre Works offering free tickets to most disadvantaged schools.

Outside of ticketing initiatives, the other major pressure on schools is the cost of transportation to theatre which is a national issue. Whilst schools may be able to afford the discounted ticket prices, they cannot afford the transportation costs to get to the venue. Many of the costs of theatre trips are also cascaded through to parents and result in many disadvantaged children not able to partake, which results in schools deciding not to commit.

A recent report from the Sutton Trust states that since last year “reports of cuts to trips and outings have more than doubled, now standing at 50%, up from 21% – a proportion that is even higher in schools with the most disadvantaged intakes, at 68%, compared to 44% in the least deprived schools”

The Transport Bursary Scheme has been created to alleviate some of the financial pressures that schools and community groups face to enable more people to attend theatre and experience live arts. The bursary will be a 100% subsidy of the transport cost. The bursary will be awarded on an application basis to schools that meet the following criteria:

• Are a state-funded primary, secondary school, or further education college.
• Are above the national average Free School Meal Percentage of a given year or are located in a designated Levelling Up for Culture area. 
• Demonstrate how the theatre trip will benefit their school.
• Are applying for a show that is not already discounted lower than the school rate. 
• A school can only be funded once per academic year. 
• Are new to Mayflower or have not attended recently

Schools that are interested in applying should email engage@mayflower.org.uk

Mayflower also recognises that many community groups face similar blockers and barriers to accessing live theatre and will also be offering the Transport Bursary to community groups that they already engage with through their participation department. 

During a successful pilot of the bursary, Mayflower had 470 engagements of young people across nine different schools and the feedback has been positive with comments including:

It was lovely to see children, who are often disengaged at school, be so excited about the whole experience. Their laughter, the smiles on their faces and the questions throughout showed their engagement in the production.

The trip had an amazing impact on a child with additional needs who had never been to the theatre before. She was so excited and in awe through the whole show. Despite her having speech and language difficulties, she was able to talk animatedly about her favourite part of the show the next day which was a great achievement for her.

One of our children who is a young carer, is very shy and they thoroughly enjoyed the show. We have had emails from parents to say thank you and that they could see a big difference in their child's personality when they got home and told their grown-ups about the show!

We are so grateful to have had this opportunity today, thank you all so much. We have brought 76 children today and 75 of them have never been inside a theatre. All of our school trips we had booked this year have been cancelled due to the cost of coach travel. The transport bursary has enabled us to bring these children today but just imagine if we could bring the whole school!

Michael Ockwell, Chief Executive at Mayflower, said “Our mission for Mayflower is to offer inspiring experiences to all, and we are delighted that we will now be able to offer our Transport Bursary Scheme in partnership with Xelabus which will help contribute to removing the barrier of transportation costs to schools and community groups.  Our role, as a charity, is to ensure that as many people in our community as possible are able to experience live theatre and the arts within their local area.”

Partick O’Sullivan, Head of Participation at Mayflower, said “For many schools and community groups, the cost of coach hire prevents them from accessing live theatre. We are delighted to work with Xelabus to remove this barrier, so more children, young people and community groups can access our rich programme across both our venues.”

Phil Blair, Commercial Manager of Xela Group, said “We at Xelabus recognise the importance of educating children and community groups with the opportunity to visit theatres and we are delighted to be working with Mayflower to achieve this especially during our 15th year of operation. Mayflower’s themed bus will be seen throughout the area and hopefully attract more theatregoers promoting the diverse range of shows on offer.”

The Transport Bursary Scheme will be in partnership with Xelabus, which is one of the longest running independent passenger transport providers within Hampshire, with over 15 years’ experience. 

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