BRIDGE THE GAP

As soon as we were forced to close our doors in March, we went to work behind the scenes to raise funds through a variety of different channels. We are hugely grateful to all those who donated to the ‘Bridge the Gap’ appeal, those who have donated the cost of their tickets, the members of the Lighthouse friends scheme, Arts Council England, BFI, The Theatres’ Trust, the Weston Culture Fund, DCMS Culture Recovery Fund, Cooper Dean Charitable Trust and BCP Council for their financial support and encouragement as we have sought to turn the events of the last year to good.

One of the fundraising highlights was the support of the Garfield Weston Foundation’s Weston Culture Fund. The fund was designed to help organisations restart their work. In awarding us a £290,000, their Trustees commented that they were “particularly struck by our focus on community engagement and artist support”. The gift is paying for a wide variety of activity including upgrading the infrastructure of our Lighthouse OUTSIDE amphitheatre, helping us to pay artists fees so that we can encourage some of the country’s larger touring shows to come to Lighthouse, organising a Dorset Artists’ conference to provide professional support to artists from our region, and subsidising tickets to help us encourage new audiences to visit Lighthouse. One of the important things to come out of this funding is SANCTUARY – an innovative new scheme that offers artistic practitioners use of our space as well as financial support for travel and accommodation, to progress their practice and develop new work. Programmes like SANCTUARY will ensure that the grant we’ve received from the Garfield Weston Foundation will have a long-term impact at Lighthouse. Using this funding to develop new artist development programmes will unlock future funding opportunities from other trusts and foundations that will support the continuation of this work. In common with all arts venues throughout lockdown, Lighthouse faced unprecedented challenges to its very existence. Moved by our plight, former students of Poole and Parkstone Grammar Schools who have since embarked on careers in the arts came together to organise the ‘Love for Lighthouse’ online benefit concert. The various alumni made a compelling case for Lighthouse’s role in inspiring the next generation of performers and arts professionals and was a significant moment for the venue, reminding us how important Lighthouse is to the community that we serve.

Help Lighthouse survive, so we can thrive

“Our cultural sector is at the heart of our local communities, providing not only entertainment but education and inspiration for many. Our Trustees were impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit shown across the arts in response to Covid-19. It was a privilege to hear what organisations had been doing to survive and reinvent the way they reach audiences. What stood out was the level of collaboration and support they had for each other and the determination to keep going, despite the increasingly difficult situation.”

PHILIPPA CHARLES, DIRECTOR OF GARFIELD WESTON FOUNDATION