GLOUCESTERSHIRE DANCE WINS £200,000 BIG LOTTERY GRANT


Staff at Gloucestershire Dance (GD) are overjoyed to have won a Big Lottery grant for £200,000, the biggest in its history.

The award will support its dance programme for disabled people, recognised as one of the best of its kind in the UK, for two years.

GD Director Cath Wilkins said: “This is brilliant news. We applied for the grant last year and faced an anxious wait during the Big Lottery decision-making process. When we got the call to say our application had been accepted we were ecstatic.”

The Big Lottery cash will secure two full-time posts for two years. It will enable GD, based at Colwell Arts, Derby Road, Gloucester to increase its work with disabled adults, revive Velcro Dance Company, and launch a new disabled artist training course. It will also support a high-profile dance and disability event in the county, and sustain GD’s special schools and youth outreach work.

The disability programme, called Gd:Velcro, is led by Inclusion Manager Louise Portlock. “We’re thrilled to be awarded the grant for our work with disability. It will make a huge difference to our organization and the work we do with disabled people of all ages.

“Until now we’ve carried out short-term dance projects which were reliant on small pockets of sporadic funding. This two-year grant gives us the chance to provide meaningful stepping stones for people with disabilities and will make a big difference to the disabled people we seek to help.”

Gd:Velcro is a unique programme focused on dance, training, and professional development for disabled people in Gloucestershire. It aims to help prepare people with disabilities for employment and provides dance activities that develop health, fitness and well-being.

In 2007/08, GD’s Velcro Dance Company performed to more than 1,000 people, and delivered more than 600 workshops in the county and across the UK.

“We are very proud of what GD has achieved through its invaluable work in the dance and disability field for many years,” said Cath. “The Big Lottery grant is a fantastic opportunity to achieve much more in the future”.

Gloucestershire Dance provides dance expertise, and a brokerage service for schools and community groups, offers training and support for dancers and choreographers, co-ordinates festivals, and works with arts organizations, charities and other agencies to make dance accessible to all.

For more info: www.gloucestershiredance.org.uk


[full news list]

• associate artist
• who is gloucestershire dance
• dance delivery team
• home
• resources
• policies
• email signup
• accessibility
• contact us