Royal Opera House receives £10m of £100million from the Julia Rausing Trust

ByGramilano 12 July 202412 July 2024 Reading Time: 2 minutes

The Royal Opera House will be one of the first recipients of The Julia Rausing Trust.

Launched today, 12 July, the Trust has been created in memory of the late philanthropist Julia Rausing who died on 18 April 2024, at the age of 63, after a fight against cancer. £100million will be donated to UK charities and organisations in its first year.

Rausing co-founded the Julia and Hans Rausing Trust with her husband in 2014, which is one of the largest philanthropic funds in the UK.

The £10 million grant to the Royal Opera House will go towards essential infrastructure upgrades relating to the ballet stage and other projects to improve the environment for artists to create and audiences to enjoy.

Kevin O’Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet, said:

The Royal Ballet was so dear to Julia’s heart, so it’s poignant and heartwarming that thanks to her generosity she will continue to support our creative teams, dancers and productions long into the future. We will be forever grateful for her generous support, and we will work to honour her remarkable legacy.

This gift is in addition to an annual fixed contribution that The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust has pledged over five years, which supports the two artistic companies at The Royal Opera House and enables work in schools and communities in the UK.

Alex Beard, Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House, said:

Julia Rausing was a dedicated patron and true lover of the arts, and we are extremely thankful for this generous grant in her memory, which will be providing vital funds needed to help us renew our stage infrastructure to deliver the state-of-the-art facilities that our artists deserve and allow our audiences to continue to enjoy performances in our beautiful Grade I listed building in Covent Garden.

Gramilano

Graham Spicer, aka 'Gramilano', is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.

Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.

He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.