South East Dance – 6th July 2021
UPDATE FROM SOUTH EAST DANCE
Here, Fundraising Co-ordinator at South East Dance, Hanna Stepanik, updates us on some exciting news re the city’s new home for dance The Dance Space.
We wanted to start our update with some good news. Well, not just good news, but fantastic news! Thanks to a further grant from the Garfield Weston Foundation, and having reviewed our budgets, we can formally announce that we have finally met our fundraising target for The Dance Space! Of course, this doesn’t mean that we can put our fundraising feet up. Far from it. The arrival of The Dance Space opens a brand new chapter in South East Dance’s story. And now, with a very visible and shiny public presence, we are more committed than ever to supporting more artists and bringing dance into more people’s lives, especially those who face barriers to taking part in creative activity.
We’ll be receiving the proverbial keys to The Dance Space from the developer in the next few weeks, and then will be embarking on our own fit-out this Autumn. We’re already planning an extensive programme of classes, workshops and performances for when the building formally opens next year, and so, as the saying goes – watch this (Dance) Space! Our heartfelt thanks go out to every single individual and organisation that has believed in and supported our vision for a new home for dance in the South East over the last 10+ years. We are especially delighted to announce that we will be naming our main studio – The Creation Space – in memory of Jamie Watton, our former Artistic Director and driving force behind The Dance Space, who died unexpectedly in 2018 before seeing his vision become reality.
Of course, we plan to continue to honour Jamie’s legacy, and from this July will be directing all new donations to the Jamie Watton Fund into Flourish, our annual programme which
provides small bursaries of up to £500 to artists at any stage of their career who are looking to develop and enhance their practice. In the meantime, don’t forget that Our City Dances is back this year as a free live / online hybrid festival, and takes place over six days from Monday 19th until Saturday 24th July. Full information on everything that is happening over the week can be found here. We hope you will join us for some of these events, whether online or in ‘real’ life.
Wishing you all a great summer of dance!
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