Annual theatrical promotion Kids Week enjoyed its most successful summer ever this year, helping 129,160 theatre fans and stage newcomers experience a London show.
The hugely popular initiative, which was part of this summer’s London 2012 Festival, ran throughout the entire month of August for the first time. Though it ran for three weeks in 2011, the addition of a fourth week and a thirst for quality entertainment saw bookings increase by 76%.
If this wasn’t good news enough for the team behind the feast of family fun, in a recent survey of nearly 6,000 Kids Week bookers, 99.6% said they would recommend Kids Week to a friend and 92.9% responded by saying the promotion had inspired them to take their family to the theatre more often.
The Kids Week deal has been the same since it was first staged in 1998; one child goes to the theatre for free with a full paying adult. A further two children can also go for half price. There are also a plethora of workshops and activities on offer to help youngsters experience all West End theatre has to offer.
Speaking about the phenomenal success of Kids Week, Mark Rubinstein, President of the Society of London Theatre, which runs the promotion, said: “It is fantastic to see Kids Week grow so substantially every year, the annual initiative is a very popular part of the theatrical calendar both for audiences and theatre producers. For many of us it was an experience of the West End as a child which sparked our love of theatre, and we celebrate Kids Week as a fun and rewarding way to engage and develop our audiences – and indeed practitioners – of the future.”
Kids Week’s impressive results also shed a little light on the impact this summer’s other many attractions had on London theatre, with bookings spread evenly across August despite the Olympic Games. In fact, 80.9% of those Kids Week bookers surveyed said the Olympic and Paralympic Games had no impact on which dates they chose to buy tickets for.
Chris Edmonds, Managing Director of Ticketmaster UK, which works with SOLT on Kids Week, commented: “It seems like every year Kids Week breaks its own records and 2012 has been no exception. The popularity and success of Kids Week continues to grow and grow and we have seen an even greater number of families taking advantage of this fantastic event. Ticketmaster is proud to work alongside SOLT on delivering this initiative to children and young people who want to enjoy the theatre at such a young age.”
Kids Week fans have until midnight tonight to show their support for the promotion by casting their vote to help it win a London Lifestyle Award. It is nominated in the Best Cultural Attraction category. If you’d like to help Kids Week win, cast your vote here.
To stay up to date with the latest family theatre news and offers throughout the year, sign up to receive our Family Bulletin email, like Kids Week on Facebook or follow Kids Week on Twitter.