The London Ticket Bank is an initiative led and delivered by the Cultural Philanthropy Foundation in partnership with Cardboard Citizens whose Artistic Director, Chris Sonnex, conceived the original idea. Cardboard Citizens creates art with, for and about people with lived experience of homelessness, poverty and inequity. We work with over 30 cultural partners including The National Theatre, The Barbican, Roundhouse, and the Southbank Centre, offering access to theatre, music, dance, comedy and cinema. In the first two months of the scheme, 36 different events have been listed on the Ticket Bank platform, alongside ongoing opportunities to attend new release films and visit galleries.

Donate-what-you-can tickets to theatre, music, dance, film and comedy events across London.

The scheme is open to people unable to engage with culture during the cost of living crisis. If you are eligible, you can sign up here.

Organisations working with people affected by financial barriers to culture can sign up to join our partner network by getting in touch here.

  • The Almeida

    Almeida St, London N1 1TA

  • The Barbican

    Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS

  • The Bush Theatre

    7 Uxbridge Rd, London W12 8LJ.

  • The Gate Theatre

    26 Crowndale Rd, London NW1 1TT

  • The National Theatre

    Upper Ground, SE1 9PX

  • Roundhouse

    Chalk Farm Rd, Chalk Farm, NW1 8EH

  • Tara Theatre

    356 Garratt Lane, London SW18 4ES.

  • OSO Arts Centre

    Barnes Green, SW13 0LF

  • Wilton's Music Hall

    1 Graces Alley, London E1 8JB

  • Theatre Royal Stratford East

    Gerry Raffles Square, E15 1BN

  • Dulwich Picture Gallery

    Gallery Rd, London SE21 7AD

  • Southbank Centre

    Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX

  • Orange Tree Theatre

    Richmond TW9 2QE

  • Brixton House

    385 Coldharbour Ln, SW9 8GL

“Access to art and culture are essential to the human condition, a human right. If people can’t afford these riches, society is poorer off. I’m incredibly proud of the London arts and culture community coming together to offer tickets city wide to people who, through no fault of their own, are on or under a poverty line. It is a real act of change, and it will give many people, who couldn’t otherwise, the opportunity to be entertained, to see other worlds, to escape and most importantly to dream.”
— Chris Sonnex, Artistic Director & Joint CEO, Cardboard Citizens.

To ensure access to the London Ticket Bank for those most impacted by the cost-of-living crisis we are proud to work with the following partners:

  • Centrepoint, a charity working with young people experiencing housing precarity and homelessness

  • The House of St Barnabas, a Soho-based charity that helps London’s homeless back into work

  • The Longford Trust, a charity supporting young adults to rebuild their lives through education after serving a prison sentence

  • Positive Action in Housing, an independent, anti-racist homelessness and human rights charity dedicated to supporting refugees and migrants to rebuild their lives;

  • A Network of Food Banks across the capital providing emergency food and support to people locked in poverty

  • cultural charities such as Cardboard Citizens, Union Chapel and The Big House

  • and the Outreach programmes of partner cultural organisations pertaining to those who face financial challenges to accessing culture.

Make a donation.

The London Ticket Bank provides tickets at low/no cost to those who face barriers to accessing culture and is just one of the ways in which the Cultural Philanthropy Foundation is promoting the democratisation of culture.

Donations of all sizes help us to deliver this important work. Tickets for the London Ticket Bank are donated by cultural organisations but cost an estimated 78p each to administer.

£10.00 could enable 12 tickets to be made available, £20.00 could make 25 ticket available, £50.00 could make 64 tickets available and £100 could offer 128 tickets to those who would otherwise not be able to afford it.

Make a Donation to the Cultural Philanthropy Foundation

The London Ticket Bank is not the first scheme to offer subsidised or discounted tickets for performances and events. Organisations such as the Mousetrap Foundation, Tickets for Good, FanzClub, Black Ticket Project, and The Audience Club, have developed important access points for culture across the UK.

The London Ticket Bank was developed directly in response to the cost of living crisis and an understanding of how increased deprivation directly impacts participation in culture. The Jan–Mar 22 DCMS Participation Survey, evidenced a widening of the gap in participation between the most and the least deprived segments – from 6.4% to 7.2% and sadly this will continue to widen.