"Priority place" Crawley gets arts grant funding

They are:

Ensemble Reza received a grant of £2,901 towards a monthly series of welcoming, fun and informal virtuoso lunchtime concerts in Crawley. Venues will range from churches to community centres, at least one of which will be within walking distance of a school so that students can attend.

Exploring Senses CIC were awarded £4,850 to provide free weekly MakerLab sessions to Dormans Arts Centre in Crawley. Based on their success in Brighton and Falmer, the activities on offer will include 3D design and printing, illustration, textiles and fashion, interactive art and robotics.

Head2Head Theatre received a grant of £3,249 to deliver three multi-sensory, interactive shows at Manor Green College for the special needs' community. Specially trained professional actors will ensure that everyone in the audience can access and enjoy these sensory experiences, whether in person or online.

Pitchy Breath Theatre Company CIC were awarded £4,000 to run theatre productions at the Hawth Theatre on the theme of New Beginnings, encouraging unpublished writers to submit stories about hope and change. They plan to hold a series of free theatre workshops for the community to share their stories before showcasing one heart-warming story.

Sussex Community Foundation launched the Crawley Cultural Fund in 2019, in partnership with Arts Council England, as a pilot project to increase arts activity and community engagement in the arts for people in Crawley. The success of the project resulted in other grant programmes in 2020 and now 2021.

Kevin Richmond, chief executive of Sussex Community Foundation, said: “We are delighted to be able to make these grants to benefit both communities in Crawley and people working in the arts.

“This was a particularly competitive round in 2021, with less funding to distribute and many great applications. But we know these awards will demonstrate that, even in difficult times, arts and culture can help to bring people together and support people’s mental and physical wellbeing.”

Jayne Tyler, south-east area director, Arts Council England, said: “We’re really pleased that four more exciting creative projects are being supported thanks to the Crawley Cultural Fund. Crawley is one of the Arts Council’s newly announced priority places and so, thanks to our partnership with Sussex Community Foundation, it is really important that we can not only support these specific projects, but through them create more opportunities for more people to experience arts and culture in the town.”