Free tickets for Harrow Arts Centre

Theatre-goers aged 26 and under will be able to get free tickets to roughly 20 shows a year at Harrow Arts Centre.

The public performing arts venue in Uxbridge Road, Harrow Weald, is one of 31 across the capital taking part a pilot scheme to encourage younger audiences to take an interest in drama.

Harrow Council's arts and events service will receive £10,000 to subsidise an estimated 1,100 seats from February 2009 for two years.

Harrow Arts Centre hosts 75 events a year, of which roughly 20 would be eligible for the free ticket giveaway.

The grant from Arts Council England may encourage more bookings of theatre productions geared towards children, teenagers and adults that are otherwise ignored because they prove financially unviable to stage.

Moira Sinclair, executive director of Arts Council England, said: "This is a wonderful opportunity to showcase the wealth of talent that we have here in the capital, in much loved local venues as well as our national theatres.

"Traditionally attendance at arts events drops between the ages of 18 and 26, so we hope that this scheme will introduce more young people to the thought-provoking, physically exciting and visually entertaining world of contemporary theatre and in doing so create a life long love for the art form."

Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn High Road, Kilburn, is part of a 12-strong consortium of West End venues that won a special £300,000 grant to provide theatre entry to the under-26s at no cost.