With thanks to Jennifer Lunn on Facebook I found this. …. too many people and especially women drop out of arts and culture careers at a crucial time. Here’s something postive to help tackle that.

From The Actors Charitable Trust.

Please share widely:

ACT – the Actors’ Children’s Trust – is in the fortunate position of being able to increase its grants and support a lot more people. We fund actor-parents, where acting has been the main part of your professional career.
Most charities only give grants when you are unable to work, but ACT knows that this isn’t enough, and the most popular support at the moment is funding for childcare.
A depressing number of actors are forced to quit the profession when they become parents, simply because life becomes impossible. Earnings are too low and too unpredictable to organise and fund regular childcare. ‘Free hours’ barely exist for actors’ unsocial work time. Schedules get changed at the last minute, meaning sudden needs for extra childcare.

ACT is delighted that our childcare grants are helping actor-parents stay in the profession they love. Some parents welcome a monthly payment (e.g. £100 to £400), while others find a lump sum best at the start of a new job such as a tour.
ACT also sponsors children’s activities, state school costs (trips, uniform, lunches etc), specialist equipment, SEN support, and so on. We also have student & apprentice maintenance grants for the children of actors. Help is confidential, and we aim to be friendly! We are privileged to be in touch with many families for whenever they need us, often for 20 years.
Please do get in touch: robert@actorschildren.org 020 7636 7868 We first check eligibility (usually just by looking at your CV if you are on Spotlight) and we usually fund people whose household income is under £40,000.