More than 150 stage designers and artists have given original work to the second Stage Designers and Artists Auction for Gaza, which launches at the Bush Theatre on 26 October and raises money for the Gaza Formula Fund.
This is the auction’s second year, and it arrives with a longer list than the first: more than 150 theatre creatives and artists have donated pieces, with photographers and ceramicists joining the designers this time. The sale opens with a launch at the Bush Theatre on Monday 26 October, then moves online, with bidding on GalaBid open until 9 November 2026.
Every pound raised goes to the Gaza Formula Fund, which gets baby milk, nappies, clean water and food to young children and their families in Gaza.
The donors include many of the best-known names in British stage design. Christine Jones, Tim Hatley, Rae Smith, Ian MacNeil, Miriam Buether, Vicki Mortimer, Mark Thompson, Anthony Ward, Anna Fleischle, Lez Brotherston, Grace Smart, Rosanna Vize and Lesa Amoore are all on it, alongside Rufus Norris, John Keane and Jasleen Kaur.
The lots are tied to productions across the West End and beyond, among them Billy Elliot, Oliver!, The Hunger Games, Cyrano de Bergerac, Titanique, Hamlet: Hail to the Thief, Monty Python’s Spamalot, Game of Thrones: The Mad King and Lily Allen’s West End Girl.
The catalogue already online runs from costume drawings and sketches to prints, photographs, puppets, props and ceramics, each signed by its maker. Early lots include Lez Brotherston’s costume drawing for the Song Seller in Oliver!, Grace Smart’s sketch for Roxane in Cyrano de Bergerac, Toby Olié’s concept art for the BO mouse puppet in Spirited Away and original masks by Evie Gurney from Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, with opening bids set at £30.
Georgia Lowe, a stage designer based in London, started the fund in 2025 with Izziddeen, a father in Gaza. Small Steps Project, a registered UK charity, hosts it and will handle the money from the sale. The first auction, last year, made more than £32,000; since its launch the fund has raised over £500,000 and distributed more than 9,000 tins of formula milk and 150,000 nappies.
In the announcement, reported by WhatsOnStage, Izziddeen said: “Borders and vast distances separate us, but shared feelings and humanitarian motives unite us. This auction is a remarkable act of solidarity for the children of Gaza, who desperately need food and the most basic necessities.”
Lowe added: “I am deeply moved and proud of the theatre and arts community for coming together for a second year, united in solidarity and generosity to provide for Gaza’s youngest and most vulnerable. The talent represented in this auction is astounding and I look forward to giving the public access to a huge variety of unique works that are rarely accessible to them.”
The lots can be browsed now on the GalaBid auction page, ahead of the launch at the Bush Theatre on 26 October.
