Arts Council England has awarded a share of its emergency fund to support the Trinity Arts Centre, Gainsborough.
West Lindsey District Council which operates the centre in Gainsborough has been awarded £35,000 from the fund, which is aimed at supporting venues and theatre companies, who are not in receipt of regular portfolio funding from the Arts Council, and have been hit by the impact of the coronavirus.
Two months ago the Council was forced to close the arts centre doors just like other cultural and entertainment venues, following the Covid-19 pandemic guidelines.
The centre, which provides a vital and invaluable service to the local community and was due to host a number of sell out shows and performances. Instead all shows were either cancelled or postponed, tickets refunded, in addition community groups have been unable to use the space to meet up and deliver their workshops and creative sessions.
Cllr Jessie Milne, who is a big supporter of Trinity Arts Centre, welcomed the news. She said:
“Closing our arts centre was the right thing to do to make sure we protected our community and NHS. Over the last 18 months our arts centre has gone from strength to strength, we are providing a more diverse events programme and we are seeing more and more sell out shows. There has been a tremendous amount of community work the centre has been involved into which now, unfortunately, can’t go ahead, such as our partnership with Shooting Fish who engage young people to write and produce new plays.
“We do not want to forget this work once we are able to open our doors again. That is why this emergency grant from the Arts Council’s Covid-19 fund would be transformational as it will help to allow the venue to prepare for new operations post Covid-19.”
Craig Sanders, Trinity Arts Centre Manager added:
“We are thrilled to be awarded this grant which means that during this period of closure will be working to support customers, refurbish the building, curate a new programme of public performances to occur when the venue is allowed to reopen, and begin to formulate an engagement project called ‘Creative Communities’ which will seek to provide a mix of digital and person to person opportunities to increase engagement with the arts and the venue.”
