26.06.25
Dear Grif-friend,
Welcome to your fortnightly Griff-newsletter, I hope you’re keeping well, staying warm and navigating this Katy Perry weather we’re having… get it? Because it’s Hot n Cold.
2025… Blink and you’ll miss it! I don’t mean to alarm you, but it’s almost the end of June. In the Downstairs Theatre at Belvoir St Theatre, we’re counting down Koreaboo performances (tonight is show 11 of 36), at the Old Fitz Theatre we’re counting down the minutes until tonight’s first preview of SISTREN and at Griffin HQ we’re counting down the final days of this financial year. Some might even say the days are going, going, gone.
While I am lucky enough to work year-round with our wonderful donor and partner family, May/June really is when the rubber hits the road. Alongside my colleague Harry Lyddiard, our Relationship Manager, we have the pleasure of calling and speaking to everyone who has made a donation to our end of financial year (EOFY) campaign. We get to chat with our nearest and dearest about what first drew them to Griffin—their love for new Australian stories, their most recent visit, a quick update on how the redevelopment’s going, or just to say a genuine thank you. It’s always a nice reminder of why this place matters so much to so many. This is just a small gesture of our appreciation, and hopefully it makes everyone who has dug deep feel that little bit closer to the company—and the theatre—that they love.
It really is the most wonderful (sometimes stressful) time of the year and we are so grateful for every single donor and every single dollar that helps us do more on and off the Griffin stage.
Philanthropy does a lot more behind the scenes than you may realise. Government support earned income and ticket revenue does a lot of the heavy lifting, but it’s our donor community that supports so much of what goes on well before the rehearsal period. Whether that’s through creative programs that develop our work like Griffin Studio, Studio Workshop and the Redraft Fund, or open access writing programs like Griffin Award and Suzie Miller Award and Griffin Ambassadors (which if you’re a year 10, 11, 12 student, you can still sign-up and see a show this weekend—for free! Apply now). These programs—and many more—are funded by incredibly generous individuals and foundations so we can tell stories, enrich lives and create more opportunities for artists to develop and stage outstanding new Australian plays.
Many of our donors start as audience members, friends of the company or simply love what we do and make the decision to step up. So, if Griffin has made an impact on you and you’d like to join our donor community, please make a donation online or give us a call. If you’re still unsure and want to know more about how your support could make a difference, we’d love to hear from you.
Thank you for reading, subscribing, donating and everything in between. We do this for you, and we can’t do it without you.
See you in a foyer (pick one, we have two on the go right now!) very soon,
Jake
Jake Shavikin
Head of Development
