A group of children smile in front of a Christmas tree

Panto Wheels

Panto Wheels is a charitable project, set up by Cambridge Arts Theatre, to support children and young people who experience barriers accessing the performing arts to attend our annual pantomime.

A Panto Wheels message from Buttons for our 2024 appeal

 

To make a donation online, please click here.

We want everyone to experience the magic of theatre. From Dick Whittington and Aladdin to last year’s classic, Cinderella, children are always enchanted by the colourful characters, vibrant sets, catchy songs and family humour of the pantomime, and it is a great introduction to live theatre.

Our Panto Wheels appeal provides subsidised tickets to schools and organisations who work with children and young people with disabilities, low-income families, foster families, young carers, and refugee families.

Many of the children and young people who attend through the project have never been to a theatre. Our aim is that the colour, vibrancy, and humour of pantomime helps nurture a lifelong love of the performing arts, and gives access to the host of wellbeing and educational benefits that live theatre brings.

We have been expanding Panto Wheels for over a decade, and during that time the project has evolved according to the needs of our community. In 2024/25, over 3,300 children and young people were able to enjoy Cinderella with support from the Panto Wheels appeal, including over 2,600 children from across 20 local schools, 12 charitable groups and organisations, nearly 200 refugees, and 170 people from groups supporting children or young people with disabilities.

We are always grateful for the feedback from the participants:

We have many children in our school who have never been to the theatre before and so it really was a memorable and magical experience made possible for many of them only through the generous support from Panto Wheels.” – Group Leader, 2023

Whilst watching the play I made up my own story which proves it bubbles imagination.” – Pupil, 2023

I really liked the pantomime it was really funny and it spread joy around the audience.” – Pupil, 2022

With the help of our generous supporters, we are proud to reach out to the local community, helping thousands of children from a range of backgrounds and with diverse needs to experience the magic of pantomime.

How your donation could make a difference

£13 could provide one school child a subsidised ticket for a performance of our pantomime.
£26 could subsidise two young carers' tickets to the show.  
£43 could support a child and their carer to attend a Relaxed Performance.   
£120 could allow a whole family to enjoy the magic.
£455 could enable an entire class to enjoy a school trip to the Theatre this Christmas.
£600 could support the British Sign Language Interpretation of a performance.

Please click the link above to donate or contact our Development department on 01223 578935 or email [email protected].