New year, new blog!
Hello, and welcome to the brand new Our Restoration Blog! We’ve created this space to keep you updated on the progress of our hugely exciting capital campaign for the restoration of the Theatre, as well as sharing lots of fascinating stories and facts about the theatre and its history.
The Civic Theatre team will be blogging from time to time to share information about the fundraising plans, letting you know how you can join in and support our campaign. We’ll have plenty of guest bloggers from architects to actors and heritage experts to volunteers. We’ll also be tracking the restoration itself, posting photos and videos as we go and hearing from the team that are making it all happen.
I’m Heather, Director of Fundraising & Development at the Theatre. I’ve been part of the team for a year and have been tasked with creating a fundraising plan to meet our fundraising target of £1.6m. I’ve spent the last year making applications to charitable trusts and foundations as well as building relationships with companies from around the region. I’ll be sharing our successes with you as and when they’re announced and I’ll also be letting you all know how you can support the appeal through fundraising activities like ‘name a seat’. The Civic Theatre is at the heart of Darlington’s cultural life and I’m looking forward to involving the whole community in our fundraising to secure the future of our beautiful Theatre. If you’d like to get in contact I’d love to hear from you; heather.walkington@darlington.gov.uk / 01325 406104
The story so far
Back in July 2014, Darlington Borough Council secured a stage 1 pass from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to explore the feasibility of restoring our beautiful theatre to its original splendour. After much consultation and planning we’ve recently submitted our stage 2 plans to HLF in order to unlock the full £5 million funds in late March 2016.
The project will deliver a restored Edwardian Theatre with 21st century visitor and behind the scenes facilities and backstage facilities which can offer an expanded artistic programme, significant physical access improvements including two public lifts and wheelchair access to all levels allowing full equality of movement, permanent historical interpretation, temporary exhibitions, public heritage and schools programme, heritage training and volunteering opportunities, offering an all-day experience for the whole community.