Public urged to support arts centre after £6 million facelift (From Dorset Echo)

Public urged to support arts centre after £6 million facelift

12:11pm Thursday 5th October 2006 in

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WEYMOUTH Arts Centre is set to become the 'jewel in the crown' of Dorset's art scene.

The building in Commercial Road has been closed since 2004 but now a charity has secured a grant to open the venue next week after a £6 million facelift.

Registered charity Weymouth Arts Centre Ltd impressed Weymouth and Portland Borough Council's management committee with a business plan for the building.

And councillors agreed to pay a subsidy of £16,000 a year to get the centre started.

Arts Centre chairman Tom Hopkins said: "Visitors expect Weymouth to have a thriving and diverse arts centre.

"This building could be a hub to promote arts across the borough. We know of 30 agencies and organisations that have previously used the space or may wish to do so.

"We want to provide them with a first-class venue and that requires significant investment."

He added: "We continue to provide our service at no cost to council tax-payers.

"We need support from local residents, councils, politicians, businesses and the media."

Weymouth town centre councillor Peter Farrell said: "Dorchester has a very vibrant arts centre, as does Bridport.

"At the moment we have a building I would describe as a 'sleeping giant' but it has the potential to be the jewel in the crown.

"Tom Hopkins has put so much work into this and if we had to pay for something like that it would have cost us a lot of money."

The committee was told the charity is currently talking with Dorset County Council about the possibility of the centre's caf being run as a social services project, like Oh Crumbs in Bridport or Caf Corner on Portland.

Committee chairman Brian Ellis said: "Arts does tend to drop down our agenda.

"We have a serious chance here with people who can raise our arts in a way we haven't done for many, many years."

The first glimpse of the new centre will be on offer at an open day on October 14 and the venue is due to host events from mid-November.

The new centre will share its facilities next to Weymouth Library with SureStart - a Government scheme supporting parents and children - which moved in in April last year.