*The venue has not asked me to write this and it was written on 8th July*
Image: Adam Vandriwala
Image: Gosforth Civic Theatre
I have never been to the Gosforth Civic Theatre but it is a venue that I want to visit when Theatre can open again.
In the heart of Gosforth, the Theatre is an arts venue and cafe that opened in 2016. Ran by Liberdade Community Development Trust, as stated on the website
“ Liberdade, founded in 2003, is a charity which gives people with learning disabilities the opportunity to belong, work and get involved in the arts and their community.”
The Gosforth Civic Theatre aims to break down misconceptions of learning disabilities by being a space where everyone is welcome.
Liberdade CEO, Rob Huggins addressed the North East Culture Social, alongside many other cultural venues, artists, music makers, theatre-makers and those involved in the industry on how they are going to survive in this pandemic.
“Like all arts organisations we want to change the world, we want to bring people together to create understanding, we want to decide what is the new normal by being extraordinary, and we want to shape our community by telling our stories and providing a home for everyone to enjoy.”
No one could see this happening and it has been an unusual time for the arts community but as a Culture Blogger, I feel that we can survive this and we can get through the other side of this. It is hard for venues to have their door shut.
As Rob added in the online statement that you can read here https://www.gosforthcivictheatre.co.uk/post/navigating-covid19-as-an-arts-venue
“We like most venues rely on our earned income, it makes up nearly 70% of our running costs and overnight we had lost all of it, we are not an NPO, and we had no cash reserves, although we did have a lot of beer and crisps that we were unable to sell, so it wasn’t all bad news.”
Liberdade is a registered charity, but 70% of their annual income is earned; From Liberdade programme fees, ticket purchases, room rentals and bar/cafe sales, and without it they won’t be able to survive.
So they are asking;
“ If we are a charity that you value and you can afford to support us, that you do just that by donating below, your donation will help to secure the future of your local theatre, coffee shop, community centre, wedding venue, play group, choir, youth theatre, and much much more. We know this is a difficult time for everybody so please only donate if you can afford to do so.”
To Donate to Gosforth Theatre click here
Gemma's Journey 