Here’s your chance to be part of the exciting future of York’s floating community arts centre.
The Arts Barge today launches a new round of fund-raising to further develop a heritage vessel to become the beating heart of the city’s creative community.
Selby Tony, the cargo barge, was rescued in 2013. After an initial phase of fundraising and renovations, it took its place at The Arts Barge’s Riverside Festival on the quayside near Tower Gardens for a successful series of concerts in 2019. It quickly became a hub for music, dance, and art and craft workshops.
But as the colder weather approached it became clear that insulation would be needed to ensure that the space could be used all year round.
In 2020, the plan was to raise funds for that crucial insulation work and other improvements. But those plans fell victim to COVID-19.
The new fundraising target is £13,600 to cover eco-friendly insulation.
You can donate via this link.
Arts Barge co-director, Christian Topman, told YorkMix: “The importance of what the Arts Barge has to offer has been brought very much into focus by the pandemic.
“The Barge will be a great place for performance and community involvement. We know how crucial the arts are in supporting mental health, emotional wellbeing and community wellbeing.
“People of all ages and backgrounds gather together on the barge to share skills in music, theatre, dance and art-making. They take part in workshops, learning, helping out, meeting old friends and making new ones.”
York’s generous business community has already responded with some great rewards for anyone helping to swell the fund.
Donors so far include: City Cruises, offering several Cruise on the Ouse tickets for two; vouchers and freebies from Coffee Culture, The Bluebird Bakery, The Golden Ball community pub, Partisan Restaurant, plus CDs from Andy Stones and Lucy Wainwright-Roche, generously given by the singer-songwriter artists themselves; the Arts Barge illustrator, Kai West, is also offering beautiful hand-silkscreened original prints; and there are a selection of Arts Barge T-shirts on offer too.
Martin Witts, a long-time supporter of the Arts Barge, has also kindly donated rewards for donors: four pairs of tickets for shows at his Leicester Square Theatre in London.
If you’re a local business and can donate £250, you can become an official event sponsor.
And if you can help by donating a reward for supporters, The Arts Barge would love to hear from you.
One of the first York businesses to pledge help is Brewers Decorator Centre, at Hurricane Way, Clifton Moor, with a generous gift of all the materials the volunteer team need to give the barge a much-needed new coat of paint.
New donation rewards will be featured on the Arts Barge Facebook page where you can see regular updates on fundraising and barge events.
From August 16, employees at Aviva will get the chance to vote for the Arts Barge as a project for funding from the company’s community programme.
And if you’d like to volunteer or get even more involved in this great project, join their Facebook group or email info@artsbarge.com
[tptn_list limit=3 daily=1 hour_range=1]
A foretaste of events to come takes place when the brilliant American banjo-playing songwriter and story-teller Curtis Eller brings his unique show to the barge on Wednesday, September 14.
For that event the barge will be moored in the Foss Basin, off Tower Street.
If the fundraiser exceeds its target, surplus monies will go towards the project’s next target: to build a deck-house and install a wheelchair-accessible lift on the barge.