Almost 20,000 people attended its sold-out run last month, contributing an estimated £175,000 on dining out, shopping, parking and other facilities whilst visiting Milton Keynes, in addition to the price of their tickets.

Elizabeth Adlington, Chief Executive at Milton Keynes Theatre said:
"Across the season around 50% of our audience are resident within Milton Keynes whilst the remainder travel in for performances from outside the immediate area. As such we are providing local people with excellent performances on their doorsteps – and playing a pivotal role in supporting local businesses with additional visitor spend."

The total annual Additional Visitor Spend (AVS) of customers visiting the theatre – excluding ticket sales - is estimated at £3.3m.*

But it's not just Milton Keynes Theatre that has enjoyed recent success. Milton Keynes Gallery is delighted at the nomination of exhibiting artist Cathy Wilkes for this year's Turner Prize.

This is the second time in two years that a Milton Keynes Gallery exhibitor has been nominated; Phil Collins was also short-listed on the strength of his exhibition at the Gallery in 2006.

The Turner Prize is recognised as one of the most important and prestigious awards for the visual arts in Europe, celebrating new developments in contemporary British art. The exhibition of work by the short-listed artists has just opened at Tate Britain, where thousands of visitors will be made aware that Cathy Wilkes was nominated for her solo show at Milton Keynes Gallery.

Gallery Director Michael Stanley commented: "This is wonderful recognition of the gallery's commitment to presenting a programme of artistic excellence and places Milton Keynes Gallery firmly on the international contemporary art scene"

*AVS figures based on Arts Council England Economic Impact of UK Theatre study, 2004